A New Sword is Forged
by TheKingOfStorms
Summary: AU:Jaune was not a prodigy like his sisters he was weak but he had a will made of Iron. One day he meets a strange man with golden eyes from there on he will be forged into something new but will learn that on his path to become a hero that he may have to do questionable things. A different Jaune will be walking around Remnant.(First fic) inspired and influenced by fate stay arc.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors notes**

 **Hi this is my first time making a fic I've always enjoyed reading some the great stories on this site so I thought I would give a go. This fic was inspired and influenced by one my favourite RWBY Fate crossovers called Fate stay Arc by** **Destaza** **even though it's not in the crossover section for some reason and it hasn't been update for about two years sadly.**

 **I honestly don't think this will be anywhere near as goods as that story but I wanted to try so tell me if I should just give up after this or keep going. I also think I stuck when it comes to my spelling and grammar as well as my story telling, hell It probably all sucks but fuck it lets give it a go.**

"Talking"

'T _houghts_ '

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series.**

0-0-0

It was just another peaceful afternoon in the town of Dragontail. You could hear the musical chirping of birds in the trees and the small talk of the townsfolk but if you were to listen carefully you could almost make something out in the distance.

"ALEXANDER JULIUS ARC!" A terrifying screamed came from a woman on the bed as she crushed the nearby man's hand. "I'll kill you for doing this to me!"

She continued as the man seemed to almost collapse in on himself while under the woman's intense glare.

The man was Alexander Arc who could be considered to be a very handsome man with his blond hair that at times could seem like it was made of golden paired with deep blue eyes that you would ever see and add in his dark natural tan it would be easy to see why he captured the eyes of many women in his life. Sadly, for them, only one woman had ever managed to capture his heart which was the same women who at this moment was trying break his hand.

"Come on dear you all most done it" Alex spoke softly to his wife.

"SCREW YOU Alex you did this to me!" She spat back at him.

His face scrunched up a bit in pain as his wife put more pressure on his hand. _'She always gets so violent when she's pregnant.'_

The woman who was laying on the bed at the moment was in pain having to go through the miracle of childbirth as some called it. The pregnant women had beautiful platinum blonde hair that looked closer to white than blonde, had light grey eyes that a bit of shine to them as well as having flawless pale skin. she could be considered to be gorgeous even while her face was scrunched up in pain.

This woman name was June Arc the wife of Alexander Arc and previously mother of three.

She was breathing very heavily with sweat all over her face as she near the end only to give a few more pushes before her second child today would finally, be born. That right she was having twins she had already given birth to a healthy young girl and now was trying deliver the next one.

"Another one... this makes four now." She thought to herself.

This had been there forth daughter in a row now, don't get them wrong they loved little girls dearly but Alex and June would like it if they could have a son maybe just to change things up a bit. Alex wanted to teach a son how to be a man and get the girls just like him and his father had done when he was a kid and June would just like to have a little boy she could spoil.

"Just one more push come, honey, you almost done." The nurse's voice broke through to them stopping their little daydreams.

"That's easy for you to say!" June shot back her, she always got very aggressive when she was in labor it was one of the things she hated the most about it.

"WAH AH" The screams of a newborn baby filled the room. The nurses quickly took the child and cleaned it up before wrapping it in a blanket then one of the nurses come over with a child in each arm as she gently gave them both over to their mother.

"Congratulations you two have a healthy boy and girly." The nurse told the parents of now five.

The mother and father look down to the twins.

"Oh, Alex look there both so beautiful." Her words were filled with so much love as all of the pain she had gone through in the last couple of hours seemed to just wash away as she looked at her two little bundles of joy.

"Yes... yes they are." He breathlessly replied as looked he looked at his children while rubbing his now freed aching hand from his wife nasty grip.

The twins had quieted down their cries and were now just taking in their new surroundings. They both had the signature Arc golden blond hair which seemed to be a dominant gene in all their children and they both had gotten Alex's deep blue eyes.

"What are we going to name them?" Alex asked his wife.

He always left the naming up to her since he thought it was the least he could do for her for all the pain she had gone through. June had snapped out of looking at her children and gain a thoughtful expression before she nodded and looking back at the two babies.

"Jeanne Arc and..." she looked at the girl and then to her little boy "Jaune Arc."

Alex looked at his wife with a deadpan and asked dryly.

"Won't that get confusing?" The glare he got in return made him wisely shut up sometimes his wife could be scarier than the Grimm.

0-0-0

6 years later

*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! *

The blaring sound of an alarm clock could be heard going off before a hand from under the sheets of the nearby bed stretches out before it slammed the button to stop the annoying beeping. Groaning came from the lone occupant of the bed as they started to get up. When they finally had the effort to get out of bed you could see that the person was a six-year-old boy.

Jaune arc was a fairly average boy for his age just about reaching three feet and ten inches he was a bit on the small side with his lanky build and small arms. The only stand out features he had were his messy blond hair and deep blue eyes with the slightly pale skin so all in all he didn't look like much.

 _'I hate waking up early'_ He grumbled internally to himself.

His mom wanted everyone up early today for a "family day" as she called because his second oldest sister would be going off to one of the many combat schools all over Remnant since she turned 13 recently. He was pretty jealous of his second oldest sister Arturia. She got to start her official training to become a huntress while he had to wait another seven years before he could even go.

He made his way to his wardrobe and got dressed then went to brushed his teeth. When he finished he lazily made his way to the door of his room. As he opened it he saw his neighbor across the hall was closing her door before turning to face him.

"Good morning Jaune!" Came the happy and pure greeting from his neighbor and Jaune couldn't help but smile when he saw her and returned the greeting.

"Good morning to you to Jeanne." If possible, her smile got even bigger.

Jeanne arc his twin sister they both looked pretty similar if you just counted them both having blue eyes and blond hair that only they and their oldest sibling had that type of combination of hair and eye color.

His sister had her hair flowing down the sides with a small ponytail at the back. She was wearing a cute pink hoodie that was a bit too big her with some jeans with all that his older twin looks very adorable.

Feeling a bit awkward staring at his sister for so long he tried to make conversation.

"So you um... doing ok?" Jaune cringed as the words left his mouth but his sister did not seem to mind as she kept a small smile on her face.

"I'm fine but I err... I'm just going to miss Arturia" she told him with a frown that makes its way on her face.

Jaune could understand why she was feeling a bit down since she got depressed when their oldest sister Olivia went away to combat school when she became thirteen. Jeanne always liked to be close to everyone so even if someone went away for a little while she got upset but his parents believe she'll grow out of it when she matures a bit more.

Jaune couldn't see much of problem since his sisters would come back and home on the holidays and the weekends because they don't really live close to one of the combat schools for them to make simple trips so his sisters stay at the schools but come and visit during the holidays and sometimes the weekends.

*BANG! *

Their thoughts were taken away by a slam of a door down the hall the twins turned their heads so fast it was surprising they didn't get whiplash. They could see their third and last older sister Mordred walking down towards them with a scary scowl on her face.

Mordred arc had the blond hair like the rest of the arcs with it being done in a high ponytail but unlike the arc twins, her eyes were green which apparently, she had got from their grandmother on their father's side.

The young Arc boy didn't get along with Mordred that was meanly because he thought her to be loud and too prideful that it just rub him the wrong way but she was still his sister and he did love her. But If there was one word he would use to describe her it would either be a tomboy or better yet rebellious.

Mordred looked at her two younger siblings. "What are you squirt's doing blocking the hallway if we don't hurry her "Majesty" will be displeased with us." She told them with annoyance clear in her tone which had switched to sarcasm when she referred to their older sister.

Mordred left the two of them before they could respond. They both then looked at each other before they ran to catch up as they did not want to upset their mother or the older sister let alone both of them.

0-0-0

They came down the stairs to see that Mordred had just walked in and immediately sat down with slouch not giving a damn about the pair of emerald eyes giving her disappointed look.

Those eyes belonged to Arturia arc the second oldest sister who looked like a near older copy of Mordred but with less of a wild and rough look and more of a naivety and elegance. She was wearing a blue knee-length skirt with a white shirt with a blue ribbon.

Her gaze shifted from her rebellious sister and moved to the twins. Jaune and Jeanne backs both straightened up when their sister looked at them. There was a reason why Mordred referred to her as "Her Majesty" and it was because with how Arturia acted and how it felt like her eyes were judging you it gave the impression that she was sometimes part of royalty.

Her gaze eventually softens and she sighed "Jaune, Jeanne would you both please stop standing there and come take a seat."

They both didn't need to be told twice and they made their way to the table and took their seats.

No really said anything and all you could hear was drumming of Mordred tapping the table in boredom, Arturia was back to glaring at her while both Jaune and Jeanne just sat there drowning in the semi-silence.

 _'This is awkward.'_ Where the thoughts of the twines.

After a few minutes of wanting anything to kill the silence they wish was soon answered when the door to the kitchen opened and in walked their mother. She was still as beautiful as ever it would seem that not even giving birth to and raising seven kids could ruin her beauty.

That was right seven kids, June had given birth to another pair of twins, two lovely girls about four years ago.

The two youngest members of the family were Lily who seemed to follow Arturia and Mordred with their shades of blond hair and green eyes. The other little girl was Lucy who as well had the arc blond hair but she had gotten her eyes from her grandfathers on her mother's side which were a warm brown colour and in Junes personal opinion the best eyes but only because they were the only thing that seemed to be inherited from her side the family since it seemed that all her other child took after her husband's side.

"Good morning everyone." June greeted her child with a smile as she walked in with the breakfast and her two little girls right behind her.

"Heh"

"Hello mother"

"Good morning mom"

"Hi mom"

Where the replies she got from them all as she started to hand the breakfast out on the table, while the two young girls took their seats by their mother's spot.

Everyone started to eat and talk around the table. Jeanne was making light conversation with her mother, Mordred and Arturia were bickering about who was better at swordsmanship but they were always like that since they seemed to have some type rivalry going on. While Lily and Lucy watch them go back and forth as all this was going on Jaune was sitting silently as he ate and sneaking looks to the empty chair next to his mothers.

Alexander arc was not home a lot of the time with the job of being a full-time huntsman left him with very little time to be at home with his family and while Jaune did understand that his father couldn't be with at home all the time because of his profession it doesn't mean that it doesn't upset him sometimes.

Jaune always looked up to his dad he was everything he wanted to be which was a hero. When his dad was at home he would spend some time with him and his sisters telling stories about his adventures or about the how people from the arc family always became heroes like chivalrous knights from the old fairy tales. That's way Jaune couldn't wait to start training he would not only get to spend some one-on-one time with his dad but he would also make his dad proud by continuing the arc legacy.

Everyone was pulled out of what they were doing when they heard the front door of the house open.

They all looked to the doorway to see their Father walk in with his huntsman gear on which consisted of some type of lightweight silver knight armor around his body, he had a cape around his neck that went down his back with the Arc family symbol on it.

When your eyes reached his face, you could see had grown out his blond hair that it now went down to his neck and he started to grow a beard. All this made Alexander arc look a lot those knights you would hear stories about.

When everyone had finally caught up they greeted him with things such "DAD!" And "Farther" before they went to meet him. Alex chuckled as Lily and Lucy both threw themselves at him so he had to catch them in a hug. He had a smile on his face as the rest on his family went to him by the door, all of them shouting questions as to why was he back early and about what great adventure he had been on.

"Ok ok slow down don't all of you lose your heads now." He had managed to get everyone to a reasonable state so he was able to tell them that he had finished his mission early so he could see his little girl off before she went to the combat school.

"Now come on taking on the hordes of Grimm has made me hunger" That had earned him slap on back of the head from his wife as his kids went off again asking about his mission.

0-0-0

It was now late in the day after all the commotion had died down. Jaune was sitting on one of the sofas in the living room with one the many books of different fairy tales that the Arcs had in their collection. He had always like to read them learning about all the legends and myths like the tales of the dragon knight or the winter Valkyrie.

"Man, this day has been so tiring..." The boy said to himself as he thought about the rest of the day, after his dad came back home everyone had been trying hear about his mission but his dad told them that it was something secret that headmaster of beacon himself had sent him on.

Then the day got a bit more upsetting meanly for Jeanne and his mon when they had to say goodbye to Arturia when she left but his second sibling managed to get them to calm down when she told them that she will call home when she got there and that she their oldest sister will be at the school to take care of her.

Nothing much happened after that his mom and youngest sisters went into town with his twin. His dad and Mordred were out back training like his dad done with his two oldest daughters before. Jaune had chose to watched them for a while but he started to get a horrible feeling within him as he saw his sister and dad bonding together and he didn't like it since it was not fair on his father or sister. His sister would be starting combat school in few years as well to continue the tradition of their family which was to complete your huntsman training and then you could go on do whatever it is you wish to do.

Besides Jaune knew that in few years he and his twin will have to step up and continue the tradition of the arc family.

He could not wait he was looking forward to the day that he could get his chance to get closer to his father since it was hard at the moment with his parents having seven kids. It was tough to look after them all especially when one of your parents is away a lot.

He didn't blame anyone of course since his mom did the best she could, having to look after children and teenagers is not easy and his dad did what could when he was around with taking care and training the older one in the family.

0-0-0

"Hey, Jaune!" A deep voice shouted out from behind him.

Jaune screamed as he jumps out of his seat and spun around to see his dad who looked to be silently laughing about nearly giving him a heart attack.

His dad was now wearing more casual clothes just a simple shirt and jeans. He noticed that his father looked a bit winded with sweat on his forehead most likely due to the sparring match he had with his sister.

"You alight their son I don't mean to scare you." Alex started patting his son on the shoulder. He had just come from spar with Mordred and it seemed that she had a lot of aggression to let out and decided to take it out him.

"Yeah-h I'm f-fine" Jaune hated he couldn't stop himself from stuttering and look down to the ground.

The head of the Arcs looked at his son and noticed something on the ground next to him.

 _'I don't know he was so into them old fairy tales... then again, he was always asking about old stories about the arcs and our legacy.'_ Alex thought to himself as he picked up the book.

"So old fairy tales huh." He said to his son as Jaune look embarrassed about his dad finding his book. "Which ones your favorite?"

His son did not answer straight away as he his face had gained a look of shocked before he frowns thinking of his answer.

Jaune didn't know which one to pick from the dozens of stories he had looked up. There was just so many like the love spot knight, the son of summer or maybe the king of the cavern. But there was one tale he felt maybe more strongly than others it was about a man who would stop at nothing to active his dream of saving people and would be trying to get closer to his dream even with the odds against him. Although Jaune had not read the full tale as he only had bit and pieces of this hero's story which only at the beginning so he did not know how it ended but he could admire the will to never give up.

"It would have to be..." He tailed of having to thinking if this was the answer he wanted to give until he decided to go with it. "The crimson stained hero!"

The reaction he got from his father was not what he was expecting his dad's face seemed to go through different emotions that the young boy could not make out before Jaune could even ask what was wrong his dad walk right of the room.

Jaune was stuck where was he did not know what to do, what had he done to make his father leave like that. 'What did I say wrong?'

Before more depressing thoughts could make it way into his head his dad had returned to his room but this time he had something with him.

"What you got dad?" He asked a bit more quietly hoping not anger his dad. The older arc ignored his question.

"Jaune come and sit down." As soon as he heard how serious he sounded, Jaune did as he was told.

"This son is something that has been pass down from the arcs for generations, my Father and his Father before him and so on, it has become the tradition for an Arc to pass this to another Arc." He told the Young boy and then show him what seemed to be a long sword with a blue handle and golden cross guard with it was a shield which was white with a golden trim proudly displaying the Arc family symbol on it.

Jaune seemed to be almost mesmerized by it before he took his eyes off it and looked back to his father. "It's beautiful but um what is it?"

His dad just smiled and said, "This is Crocea Mors and it was used by your great-great-grandfather in the last great war." Jaune eyes nearly popped out of his head and his jaw dropped. This was the legendary weapon that his ancestors had used in their journeys to become heroes.

The young boy was so star struck that almost didn't hear the next words his father said.

"I would like you to have it." Jaune's whole world froze as he heard that before he eyes rush to his fathers.

His dad chuckled "I'll plan on giving it to you once your strong enough to passed my training before you go off to combat school in a few years, just like my father did with me, it's tradition after all."

Jaune knew he meant it because his father took things like family legacy and tradition very seriously. He looked at his dad as a fire of determination started to burn deep within in his eyes.

"I swear dad that I will become strong no matter what," He told him with as much conviction as a six-year-old could make but to show his dad he meant it he added. "you have my word!"

He dad just smiled although Alex would one day find out because all the focus he put into installing things about legacy, tradition and about NEVER going back your word to his children. That Jaune had taken all of that on board especially the last one So he will one day learn about what it would cost for his son to become strong just as he promised.

0-0-0

5 years later

The sound of two combatants could be heard sparring in the back of the Arc estate.

*CLASH*

*CLASH*

"Again!" Alex shouted out with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

The two opponents got into their positions and then continued to spar against one another with the outcome being the same with Jaune down on the ground and Alex getting more irritated. This had been going on for some time until Alex finally called a stop to it.

"Jaune, come on that's enough for today we are getting nowhere. "Alex sighed out trying to relieve himself from the irritation that he had built up during the spar.

He couldn't understand where they were going wrong no matter how long they want at it, Jaune seemed to be making little to no progress at all. He had started Jaune and Jeanne training when they had both turned nine and they had both been fine at the beginning but seen it had become apparent there was a big difference between his older pair of twins. When it came to Jeanne she was natural at the progress of the training just like her older sisters were but her brother...

Jaune was if Alex was being honest horrible his footwork was not strong enough so someone could easily out maneuverer him or just knock him down. Then there were his defenses which had so many opening in them that it was not even funny how easy it was to exploit them. His sword swings were ok but no were near fast and strong enough compared to his sisters. The one thing that Alex could take some pride in his son was his determination, no matter how much Jaune went down he keeps coming back up over and over again it was like his son was made out of some unbreakable steel... but just because you had lot will-power did not mean anything if you can't back it up with something.

Alex sighed to himself he didn't know what to do with Jaune they been training for two years now and he had little to show for it. Jaune was just progressing too slow when they were together and his son was making nearly no headway at all when he trained by himself, while Alex had to go out on more long missions.

Alex just did not have enough time between training Jeanne, his duties as a husband and he would have to start getting ready for the younger twins training in a few months when they turned nine. Not to bring up that June had gotten pregnant again so this would make it their eighth child now together. That was all without mentioning the missions that Ozpin was sending him on and the time between them kept getting shorter while the missions themselves were getting longer.

He hated to think it but with how Jaune was doing he was starting to think that maybe his son just wasn't cut out for being a huntsman.

0-0-0

While Alex was lost in his own thoughts Jaune was feeling downtrodden with his own depressing thoughts plaguing his mind.

 _'I don't understand._ ' He cried internally as he kept replaying the failures of his training session with his father over in his head. _'What am I doing wrong.'_

Jaune could not understand why this was happing to him he had finally gotten to spend some one on one time with his father but for all the wrong reasons.

He had been so happy when they first started he could barely contain himself but all that joy soon turned to self-loathing when it became clear that he was inferior to his sisters. He and Jeanne had to have separate training sessions because of him being so far behind than his sister.

What he had learned in about two years was not even half of what she could do in her first year. Jaune hated the feeling of the knot that twisted in his chested evetime he would see his and sister training with a smile on their faces. His dad had tried to hide it but Jaune knew he had seen the looks his dad would give him in the corner of his eye, it was a looked of disappointment. That's all his dad would see when he looked at him a failure of the arc name.

Before Jaune could go to much deeper into his self-loathing his dad's voices broke him out of it.

"Jaune...I have come to a decision I..." His dad's voices seemed uncertain before he steeled himself and looked his son dead in the eyes. "I do not believe that you don't have what it will take to become a huntsman so we will cease your training from now on."

Jaune's eyes widened and he breathed in sharply, his eyes began to water but fought it back he refused to cry in front of his father.

Alex took in his son's reaction before quickly added "I know that you are upset but I think this is for the best for you and there are plenty of other options for you out there." His son didn't respond for a while and he could tell that his son was taking this hard but he come to understand in time.

Jaune finally managed to sort himself out for a moment before telling his father in a small and sad tone. "I-Its o-okay farther I understand I'll...um just go." He then quickly left the backyard and his father while rushing to his room ignoring his mother and younger siblings on way.

Once he made it to the safety of his room he locked the door before collapsing on his bed trying to hold back his tears.

0-0-0

It had been about a week since his father ended his training and Jaune had barely left his room for all that time. It had gotten so bad that even his mother and sisters were starting to worry. They tried to get him to come out and interact with them but Jaune just wanted to be left on his own for now.

He knew what he was doing was not healthy and it was childish but being told that his dream of becoming a hero had been crushed by his own father had made him feel so empty and lost. His mother and sisters had tried to get their dad to rethink his decision but his father was not budging on the matter which had led to both of the Arc parents to argue which was happing right now.

It was late in the night so his parents properly thought that their children were all asleep but Jaune had trouble sleeping for the past week with his mind being distraught with what had happened a week ago, so with some time going past by Jaune finally decided to try and see what was going on with his parents.

Slowly opening to door to his room he pared down the hallway to see no one in the dim empty hall but the voices coming from downstairs became a bit clearer but was still unable to make them out. He made his way down the hall to the stairway as covertly as possible and as he went down he stayed as close to the wall as he could so he wouldn't be seen.

"For the last time June, I said NO." The voices of his father could now be made out.

"But why Alex you have seen what it's doing to him" The desperate voice of his mother was the next thing he heard replying to his Father. "Why won't you just go back to training with Jaune." She sounded tired like they had been going at this for a long time.

His dad was fast to respond saying "Because I don't have the time for it, with Jeanne needing more time to learn the more complex forms of the Arc fighting style and then I will need to start teaching Lucy and Lilly the basics soon."

"Maybe you would have more time if you weren't always god knows where on some stupid quest for Ozpin." His mom's voices started to rise at the end as she finished and continued with.

"You still won't tell me what he has you doing all this time and why you have to be away from your family for so long."

"The missions that I do for Ozpin are classified" A scoff from his mother could be heard when he said that.

"But I do them so I can ensure that I'm keeping everyone safe THAT is why I can't waste any more time with Jaune!"

As soon as those words were said there was complete silences.

Jaune could feel his heart stop he found that his throat had made it hard to swallow anything and he could feel his eyes water but he had to force himself not to sob otherwise his parents would find him.

"Is that how you see the time spent with your son?" His mother's voice was nothing but a whisper and you could have sworn that it had got colder when she spoke.

"I didn't mean it like" His father's voice still remained strong.

"THEN WHAT DID YOU MEA-"

"OH, FOR FUCK SAKE JUNE DO YOU WANT JAUNE TO DIE BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF HE GOES DOWN THE ROAD OF A HUNTSMEN!" His father shouted as he cut off his mother off.

*SLAP*

The sound of flesh hitting flesh ranged out and echoed all the evidence leading to that his dad had just got himself slapped. The sounds of heavy breathing and whimpering were now coming from down the stairs for a moment Jaune thought that his dad was crying from the slap but that theory was disproved quickly as the sound were definitely ones coming from his mother.

"I... I know o-okay I know he w-will get himself killed out there but... *Sob* I can't stand seeing him like this *Sob* he will barely come of his room and w-when we do see him you can see how much pain he's in and it hurts... it hurts not being to help him *Sob*." Jaune had never heard his mother sound so broken before.

"June it's okay it will be okay, Jaune will be fine and he'll get over it and move on." He could hear his Dad trying to calm his mom down and stop her from crying their argument was quickly forgotten.

Jaune decided that he had eavesdropped on his parents long enough and so as silent as he could he went back to his room as his mind was trying to processing what he had heard from his parents.

0-0-0

Walking down the streets on the way back to his house was a now twelve-year-old Jaune it had been six months now since that night with his parent's little-shouting match.

Somethings had changed for him since that time the biggest had to be the newest member of the family. That's right his mom had finally given birth to a girl again called rose and everyone one loved her.

The other changes were more simple things such as Lily and Lucy doing there training with their father along with the help of Jeanne who would be on her way to a combat school in a years' time.

Just thinking about his sisters and training made him sigh since that night Jaune had mixed feelings on the whole matter. One part of him was bitter and angry that his parents didn't believe that he could become a hero and would only get himself killed while the other part of him made him feel guilty and sad about how his behavior was making his family fight each other. So, with his love of his family winning out Jaune just decided to hide how he felt but it didn't mean that it still did not hurt when he heard his parent bragging about how most of their children were prodigies where he was just normal old Jaune.

With things as they were, Jaune did not have great things to say about things at home with his father spending time with his sisters and his mother fussing over the new baby in the house which all meant they had little time for him. It was properly the worst when all of his sisters were back at home as they were all hunters or training to be hunters so they would all talk about Huntsman related topics which he had next to no idea on which only made him feel like an outcast. He did still love his sisters and his parents to a degree but it really hurt him knowing out of all them he came last, he was the black sheep and it made that fire inside of him want to prove that he could be someone worthy of there acknowledge.

But Jaune sighed and closed his eyes knowing that he had no way to do that, so maybe he should just accept his place and do something simple like a farmer or a blacksmith.

He crossed the street still trying to think of what to do with himself. Walking by an alley he stopped when he could hear the sound of someone groaning. He looked down the dark alley but could only make out the shape of a man in the shadows leaning against the wall.

Making properly a big mistake he made up his mind to see he could help the person seeing they were in pretty bad shape as he could barely keep himself up.

As Jaune got closer he saw that the man was facing away from him. The person in question seemed to have white hair and very tanned skin.

"Hey, mister..." Jaune hesitated before he went closer "you alright?"

The man turned around and Jaune's blue orbs looked into a pair of intense gold.

It was from this moment that a broken sword would forge a new and stronger sword to take its place.

0-0-0

"So, kid... you want to be a hero huh?" The man who name, Jaune learned was Shirou asked him.

After Jaune had offered his help to the white hair man which had it led to them making some small talk and Jaune quickly learned that even though the mysterious man looked and sometimes was intimidating there seemed to be something more to him so Jaune talked which had led to Shirou talking and asking him what his goal in life was.

Jaune knew that the way that Shirou had asked the question that there was more to it then it seemed so it made him think on his response for a few moments.

In those moments he remembered the promise he made to his dad all those years ago.

"Yes, I want to be Strong I want to be a hero," The young Arc told him with all the determination he could muster. "I gave my word that I would achieve it no matter the cost."

Shirou looked at him and the young man looked back him they locked into each other's eyes both unyielding.

After what felt like hours Shirou broke it and looked away looking like he confirmed something.

"You are a fool," he told Jaune like it was absolute fact "but... so was I," he said seemingly more to himself then Jaune.

"I definitely can't make you hero kid but..." The young arc attention was entirely on him. " I can teach how to get stronger and maybe by some miracle help you stop being such a fool."

0-0-0

 **END**

 **Janue's sisters profile (ages are when Jaune is 12)**

 **Olivia Arc**

 **Age - 21**

 **Hair - blonde**

 **Eyes – light blue**

 **Arturia Arc**

 **Age - 18**

 **Hair - blonde**

 **Eyes - Green**

 **Looks the same as Saber from Fate stay night**

 **Mordred Arc**

 **Age - 15**

 **Hair - blonde**

 **Eyes - Green**

 **Looks the same as Mordred from Fate**

 **Jeanne arc**

 **Age - 12**

 **Hair - blonde**

 **Eyes - Deep blue**

 **Looks the same as Jeanne from Fate**

 **Lilly Arc**

 **Age - 10**

 **Hair - blonde**

 **Eyes - Green**

 **Looks the same as Saber Lilly from fate grand order**

 **Lucy Arc**

 **Age - 10**

 **Hair - blonde**

 **Eyes - Brown**

 **Looks like Lucy heartfillia from fairy tail**

 **Rose arc**

 **Age - 6 months**

 **Hair - very light blonde seemingly near white (from her mother)**

 **Eyes - Blue**

 **So yeah that's it, no clue if I will continue or just give up now since I have NO idea what I'm doing as you can probably tell but well I gave it a try anyway.**

 **Well see you next time maybe.**


	2. Chapter 2-Bad luck

**Authors notes**

 **Hi so... I'm back**

 **I honestly don't think I would be trying to continue this but I got some nice people in the reviews asking to keep it going so I thought I will. Thanks for the reviews and all the follows and favs.**

 **Something to get out the way first.**

 **A lot of you mentioned it and yes, I should have used Nero and Okita for Jaune's sisters but for some reason, it never came to me and I just kept drawing a blank for more sisters so I just went with what I could come up with.**

 **Rionline:** **This chapter won't follow fate stay arc because I don't just want to copy Destaza work but I do plan in a few chapter for Jaune to reveal his powers to his family and other in a spectacle but I'm not there yet. This chapter is meant to be one of Shirou and Jaune together as Jaune grows up under his wing.**

 **MX2432:** **To your bit about how Jaune and Shirou should have met all I can say is... that it's much better idea than how I made them met and the bit about me rushing there meeting was right. I was near the end of the story and just want to get it done. I do try to address that about how Jaune acted was not normal so hopefully that an improvement. In my original plan Shirou was not meant to stay in the story but because of some words with someone in my PMs, I think I can keep him as more of a main character and do plan to at least send Jeanne to Beacon.**

 **Goose Attack:** **My reason for why Jaune was not good at fighting at a young age in chapter 1 was a bit of mixture of what you said. Jaune could not get the style right but pair that with his father who is impatient because he never had to deal with this because his daughters picked it up very quickly. As well as Alex does not have much time to help Jaune because of the all the missions Ozpin sends him on. I put in something which could explain Jaune progressing fast under Shirou and explain it a bit more in AN at the end.**

"Talking"

'T _houghts_ '

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series.**

 **This chapter follows Jaune growing up under the influence of Shirou. I wrote some action bit but I've never done them before so I don't know if they any good. There a bit of Shirou lecturing to Jaune on being a hero but I don't if made it work. I tried to take more time with this so let me know if it's improved or if now I should give up. My spelling and grammar is most likely still bad.**

0-0-0

 **Chapter 2 – Bad luck**

A broken world made for producing endless weapons. A war-torn land clouded in smoke, the ground was long dead and forgotten. Crude gigantic gears were suspended high in the sky continuously turning like a well-oiled machine. On top of a hill surrounded by swords was a man standing overlooking the desolate land. He stood above 6ft tall wearing a red outfit and his hair was pure white.

Shirou Emiya or just Archer to some was waiting for whenever he would be called upon again. He did not know how much time had passed since he was last called on, the concept of time had no meaning here. It could have been week, months or years possibly even centuries. The last time he had any contact with Alaya she was seeming distressed, something about a catastrophe on the planet that nearly ended mankind.

Shirou didn't know the details and Alaya did not seem to have time to talk before she left so, all he could do was wait and enjoy his solitude. But it would seem that his little break from all the killing was at an end as he felt a presence enter this world which could only mean she was back and had a mission for him.

Turning around he faced the collective unconscious of humanity but his eyebrows raised in slight shock as Shirou took in the state of Alaya. The form she usually took looked horrible her once beautiful white hair now looked dull and was a mess. Her red eyes that were always so bright and full of life now appeared dim looking near death. All in all, she looked terrible.

"Alaya." Shirou sated trying to hide his shock from her appearance. "What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again."

"Shirou..." Even her voice sounded lifeless like she was incredibly tired. "I need your help."

'well, nothing new there.' He muttered in his head.

Shirou sighed "So who is you need me to killed now huh?"

Alaya just looked at him with her dim eyes looking like she could fall over any minute with how weak she looked. He wouldn't say anything but it was worrying him slightly.

"No Shirou you don't understand...things are bad with the state of humanity." She sounded regretful and sad when she spoke.

Shirou just looked at her wanting an explanation of what was so bad that needed understanding.

"Humanity is on the brink of extinction Shirou the planet is nothing but a remnant of what it once was. The catastrophe nearly ended everything, it took nearly all my power to just keep small portions of humanity alive." Ayala explained to his and Shirou face morphed into shock at hearing the state of mankind.

"How did any of this happen" He needed to know.

Ayala's face morphed into an ugly scowl.

"It was all because of that blasted grail!" She screamed so loud that Shirou had to wince from the ringing in his ears.

"Fighting over it awoke that beast of a Goddess up then it's unknown to me or anyone what happened after that but everything was lost, the planet is broken, humanity is near extinct and the goddess was destroyed." Alaya looked to have gained a bit of life in her as ranted about how everything had got so messed up.

"That why I need you Shirou because of my weakened state from trying to keep humanity alive for the last few thousand years I can't keep it up. You and one other are the only agents I have left that can help mankind." She looked at the white-haired man desperately.

Shirou really didn't know what to say he had just found out that the world had been destroyed and mankind was barely surviving. He was wondering how long he had actually been in here then since Alaya mentioned that It had been a few thousand years after whatever destroyed the planet. Things must be really bad if she was this weak.

"wait you said that I was the last of two agents what about the other one?"

Alaya glanced away then back to him and sighed. "He is doing his best to protect mankind but sadly he had forgotten his true purpose and given most of his powers away to others."

Shirou just pinched the bridge of his nose it looked like he was on his own then. "Okay then... what is it that needed to do."

Ayala's face broke into a small smile.

"Within the remaining hundreds of thousands of people, I felt something. A young boy whose soul resembles yours I want to you teach him to become like you so I can have two powerful guardians to help protect mankind for me."

As soon as she was done talking it immediately set off an alarm in Shirou's head. Someone like him? There should never be another one like him no one should have to go through what he had to do. This boy should not need to know the feeling of what it's like to be betrayed or to hate your own ideals. If Ayala wanted another copy of him then she could think again he would not make another "hero of justice" if he was to teach this boy he will lead him down another path if he can.

Shirou felt like he had some kind of responsibility to make sure this boy come out better than him.

Closing his eyes, he nodded to Ayala and she looked very relieved like someone took a weight off her shoulders.

"Excellent! Alright, I'm going to send you down to the Planet, the first person you see will be your new student and don't worry I'll give you all the information you'll need about the world when you materialize."

Shirou just rolled his eyes and just waited to be sent.

"Oh... one more thing I'm using nearly all of my remaining power for this soooo... it may hurt."

"what?"

"Bye!"

*FLASH*

A blinding light hit Shirou before he could ask what she meant by that. Then he began to feel a new sensation one which was new to him being summoned by Alaya.

He could feel himself falling and gravity doing its job meant that he soon hit the ground...hard.

*Thud! *

"ouch" was all he could say as he opened his eyes to see that he had landed in dark dirty alleyway. Alaya really did send him to the nicest of places, didn't she? Getting up while nursing his hurting side from the fall Shirou soon had to deal with a much more painful experience. As he now had a crapload of information being jammed into his skull.

Shirou moaned out in pain as he fell to the nearby wall for support. Not even 10 seconds back into this world and he already was starting to regret this.

'could this be any worse?' He pondered

"Hey, mister... you alright?"

He stood corrected.

Twisting around he came face with a young boy with messy golden blonde hair that brought back some memories for him and a pair of the bluest eyes that would put even sapphires to shame. If you were to look into the Kid's eyes most people would maybe see just innocence and naivety but Shirou could see past that and he could see a fire. A fire that could not be put out and Shirou could already tell this kid was the one Ayala was on about, he knew that this was not going to be easy going by the similarities he was getting with his young self and this kid.

In that moment he had one thought.

'Curse my E Rank luck!'

* * *

0-0-0

Jaune's shoulders were tense and wide, in his hands he held a wooden sword that he was told was called a Bokken. The wood of the handle seemed to creak under the pressure in his tight grip, he had sweat dripping from his brow and his breath was labored showing clear signs of exhaustion.

*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*

He was trying to get as much air into his lungs as humanly possible each gulp of air was like sweet nectar to him at the moment.

His eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at his opponent and he could see the cocky smirk and how the man's eyes were mocking him.

*Pant*

'okay, Jaune wait for the opening and... strike!' He lunged in trying to take advantage of the opening that was available. At seemingly at the last possible moment, his attack was swiftly deflected. The change in his movement had made him stagger backwards and before he could do anything else his opponent had sent him tumbling to the cold hard ground.

"Wow that was really impressive you all most made it to five minutes that time kid" He could feel the sarcasm dripping from his mentor's mouth.

Jaune gritted his teeth as glared upwards at the white-haired man, with frustration.

Shirou didn't seem to care that the young boy was trying to set him on fire with his stare. He had his Bokken resting on his shoulder and looked bored showing that the past couple of hours had not even made him work up a sweat.

It had been three weeks now since Jaune had met the strange white-haired man who had told him that he could help with his dream to get stronger on his way to becoming a hero.

"Screw you," The young blond said before he looked at the floor and sighed out "I feel like I've been making no progress at all."

In three weeks Shirou had just completely wiped the floor with him and it pissed him off to no end. They would just have small spars then maybe talked about a seemingly unrelated thing before eating possibly the best-cooked food Jaune had ever tasted. Than Jaune would go home and rinse repeat with nothing changing.

"of course, you're not" Jaune looked back up at Shirou. "You didn't think you were going to see a massive improvement in just three weeks, did you? Shirou asked him and Jaune winced a bit at the question.

"Besides..." Shirou continued "I haven't actually been training you"

Jaune shot up from his spot "What!" He shouted looking completely livid. "You telling me that for the past few weeks you been doing nothing but smacking me around what was the whole point of all this then."

Before he could say anymore Shirou smacks the top of his head with a Bokken shutting him up.

When Jaune opened his eyes after recovering from the assault on noggin he came face to face with a piercing glare with the older man's golden eyes that seemed to glow with anger making the blond keep his mouth shut.

"Are you done...?" Jaune just nodded.

"Good the reason for the past few weeks was not to train you but it was for me to understand how you think and fight,"

Shirou informed him as walked to wall putting the wooden swords back on their racks. "The other reason could be seen as more important which was for both of us to know and learn about each other."

Seeing the confusion that must have been on Jaune's face the man went on.

"Kid you met me, some random stranger you found hurt in a dark alley and within a few minutes of meeting each other you were willing to tell me your whole damn goals in life." Shirou paused for second before going on.

"That's not something twelve-year-olds do okay it was pretty worrying how quickly you opened up to me it was like you never had a chance to express your thoughts with someone so you latched on the first person who would seemingly give you the time of day."

"T-That's not true" Jaune tried to rebuttal the claims his hands curling into fists and started to shake. It wasn't true it couldn't be.

He wanted for what Shirou was implying to be a lie that he was just making it up on the spot. But he knew... he knew that there were least some truths to it. Like how he was lucky if he got greeting from his father since the man was now so busy training with his sisters or going out on missions that they pretty much had no more real interactions.

It was like how his mom was so busy having to take care of the baby and the other seven children in the house that she had little time to spare equally for everyone. He knew that he was not close to his sisters with all of them apart from his baby sister were pursuing careers as huntresses so he was struggling to stay connected with them.

He didn't have any real friends and the few he knew well they were more of his sister's friends and with how awkward he was it meant that he had trouble connecting with his peers.

It felt like he was drowning in his family shadow.

"I think it is true from what I've learned about you in this small amount of time is that you wish to get stronger and become a hero." Shirou explained.

"I know you have some family issue that is making you recklessly want to prove yourself to them." Shirou was now walking towards him.

"I know you want to help people and that you are here with me because you believe I can help you active that dream." Shirou had now stopped in front of him.

Jaune didn't respond as he was too busy taking in how Shirou had just dissected him.

Looking back on it he had opened up a bit too fast but he was alone and desperate. He had used Shirou as someone to take his problems out on by just talking him and it felt good to get it off his chest in the last few weeks. It would have been a lot better if maybe he had just gotten his parents attention and talk to them but at this point in time, he just felt too disconnected from them.

"Now what have you learned about me in the last three weeks?" Shirou questioned Jaune

Jaune really didn't know what to say all he knew about Shirou was that the man was strong. He made heavenly food but that was pretty much it. Other than how much the white-haired man got on his nerves.

"I learned that your snarky and sarcastic...also maybe a bit sadistic" were first things that came from the top of Jaune's head. "You...love cooking from what I saw of you in the Kitchen and um... you're a bit of an asshole." He finished using a word that he had heard Mordred use on some boy that talked her up before she kicked him in the crotch. Their mom had not been happy about Mordred dirty mouth which had led to many arguments in the past.

Shirou just stared at Jaune before the white-haired man broke into a small smile and took his hand then patted him on the shoulder. "See in just a few weeks we know each other a little better. I know you're a foolish kid and you know I'm an Ass... we'll get along so well together." He chuckled.

Shirou then gave the blonde a firm grip on his shoulder. "You got thing weighing you down kid but you'll get through them." After that said Shirou turned around started to walk to the hallway.

Jaune though was confused "Wait what about my training then are you still going to help me?" He asked getting the man's attention back on him.

"What you wish to start your actual training now?" The boy nodded his head so fast that Shirou thought it may fall off.

Shirou then seemed to sigh and took a deep breath before pinching the bridge of his nose. "fine follow me this part will have to be gotten out of the way first."

* * *

0-0-0

Jaune followed Shirou deeper into his house before it took them to a room which he guessed would be a study.

There was an old wooden desk with an assortment of different books and scripts laying on it. The bookshelves were filled with dusty old books with titles and authors he had never heard of and there seemed to be a little wooden workbench with swords as well what looked like an old gun? The gun looked to be a single shot pistol with some engravings on it. Shirou moved to the back of the desk and pulling out an old wooden box than preceded to blow the dust off it before turning to face him again.

"Jaune before we go any further I need to look at me and tell me that this is the path you wish to take because there will be no turning back from here. Once I give you this you will have to stay as my student until I think you're ready to move on."

The young Arc could tell that the man must be taking this seriously since Shirou used his name.

He was not completely sure about what was going on but he had given his word that he would get stronger so he won't turn back now!

Jaune looked at Shirou with his eyes blazing with unyielding determination and spoke loud and clear. "I'm sure, I can't just back down now and turn away I have to follow this path to the very end"

That seemed to be an enough as Shirou just nodded then opened the box to reveal... a card?

It was a shiny gold card with the image of a man, ready to fire an arrow. Jaune wasn't going to lie he was a bit let down and he let his opinion be known.

"It's a card" He dryly stated.

Shirou seemed to take some offense to that as snatched the card out of the box before nearly shoving it in his face saying. "A CARD! This is not just a card."

"Sorry...it's a... shiny gold card," Jaune told him as if it would make it better.

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"

Jaune didn't think he would get so emotional about a freaking card. He chose to just keep his mouth shut and let Shirou explain.

"This is NOT a card this is an artifact that encapsulates the power of someone which can be Implanted into someone else allowing them to gain the skills and knowledge of that person."

Jaune doubted that a card could be so powerful but he had no other option but to go with it for now.

But it did raise a question "who's power will I be getting?" He asked guessing that what this was all about.

He was not expecting for Shirou to say "Mine."

The silence hanged in the air for a bit before Shirou kept going. "When this artifact fuses with you it will come at a cost, however. It will replace whatever semblance you would have had."

To that Jaune intelligently replied, "what the heck is a semblance?"

He had heard the word before around his family but every time he asked them about it they would quiet down and then look sorry at him.

Shirou sighing at the boy's ignorance before replying "It's an... ability that Huntsmen have."

"ooh"

So that was why his family wouldn't answer the question because they felt sorry for him not being cut out it be a Huntsman so they didn't want to talk about Huntsman related topics with him. While they probably thought they were being kind by trying to not hurt his feelings, it seemed to be driving a wedge between him and them.

With how they would quieten down when he would show up and then try to awkwardly talk to him as they seemed to be walking on eggshells around him as a consequence it just made him feel like he didn't fit in.

Anyway, Jaune couldn't see much of big deal about losing this semblance of his seeing as how he won't be able to become a huntsman the traditional way so losing something he would never get to use was not a big price to pay.

He did have a question though. "Wait so HOW does this thing even work exactly?"

His teacher was silent for a while before he answered. "The artifact uses magic to transfer power."

"really... magic?"

Jaune was now looking at Shirou as if he was crazy. "Look just... let's do this and I will explain things at a later time ok."

So Jaune just gave a nod conveying to get this all over with.

Shirou positioned Jaune to the middle of the room before he kneeled down in front of the young boy to start the fusing process.

"Where did you even get something like this anyway?" The boy's curiosity getting the better of him.

Blinking Shirou looked at him before continuing setting it up. "You may not believe me but this object was actually a "gift" from an old "Friend" of mine and she wanted you to have it."

Yeah, Jaune had some trouble believing that with the way Shirou said friend and how his question was actually not answered.

"There's one more thing you should know kid when this thing will start fusing with you it's going to forcibly unlock your prana and modify it so this is not going to be pleasant... good luck." Shirou then stepped away from him leaving just him with the card floating above his chest.

Before Jaune called even ask any questions about any of that the card began to sink into him with no resistance at all.

Once it was completely submerged itself into his body the feeling Jaune now had was that of a dozen pointy foreign objects trying to jab their way out of his skin. It was really uncomfortable and unsettling but nothing terrible.

The uncomfortable feeling started to fade and for a whole minute, nothing happened.

...

But it was shortly followed by definitely the most painful experience in his life.

"ARGH!" Jaune screamed in agony before dropping to his hands and knees.

His whole body felt like it was fire he already had started to sweat and he had to grit his teeth to stop himself from screaming.

The process kept going with it now feeling like someone had replaced his blood with molten liquid.

He could see his hand light up in the corner of his eyes as he felt like someone had just now stuck a hot iron rod into his spine and he could start to see blue lines almost like circuit all-over his hands and arms.

Jaune's body was unable to take it any longer and his vision soon became black as he passed out from the pain.

He must have been under a lot of stress in those last moments because before everything went dark he could have sworn that he was lying on top of a hill surrounded by something.

* * *

0-0-0

2 years later

(Jaune age 14)

"Why do we need to be so far out in the wilds again?" Jaune asked while carrying a backpack full of camping supplies.

"Because my foolish little pupil I believe there is not a much of a greater lesson then trial by fire, you will learn better while testing your abilities under pressure."Shirou lectured as he walked in front.

"Wow, Shirou you almost sounded wise just then." Jaune deadpanned following behind his teacher.

"Of course, I have plenty of wisdom and knowledge to share."

Rolling his eyes. "Yeah, it must come with age huh old man."

Turning his head around Shirou frowned. "Who are you calling old I'm still in my twenty's damn it."

Jaune just scoffed at. "Yeah right, what type of person in their twenties already has white hair."

Shirou turned away and Jaune smirked at the victory. "You won't be smirking when your hair starts to turn white kid."

Jaune's smirk dropped at that remark but just kept on walking.

They had been out in the Wilds for a few days now just moving from spot to spot having Jaune test himself against the different type Grimm they had run into. The tests were things such as how many Grimm he could take on his own or how far he was able to snipe them with his bow. At the moment they both were looking for a place to set up camp as it was already getting dark.

His parents thought he was on some type of excursion for something that they probably didn't know about but they didn't really ask so Jaune wasn't about to tell them. They had been more than busy with Jeanne who had gone to combat school last year and his younger sister's needs in training.

Getting annoyed at lugging around the backpack Jaune spoke up. "Why am I the one who has to carry this around again?"

"It's because it's dangerous for an "old man" like me, I could throw my back out." Shirou didn't turn around as to hide the small smirk he was sprouting.

Jaune just sighs but his lips morphed into a tiny smile. He had enjoyed this little trip with Shirou it was like one of those camping things fathers and sons would do to spend time with each other. Only this camping trip was way more dangerous and the role of the father was filled by a sarcastic asshole... but it was still fun. He would never admit it to Shirou but Jaune had kind of come to see his mentor as somewhat of a second father to him.

It had been two years since that day he had passed out from pain caused by installing the class card. It had been worth it though the process had forcibly unlocked his prana and organized it into a pseudo-nervous system that spread itself throughout his body.

Shirou had told Jaune that he had one of the biggest prana reserves that he had ever seen and that the blue lines that connected like circuits that had appeared on his body were actually called prana streams. Jaune didn't really know how to take the praise but he felt some happiness from being able to impress Shirou in some way.

Jaune had asked a bit more about what this prana was and Shirou had spent some time explaining that it was something that all huntsman and huntresses have and that they have their prana unlocked in training.

The subject had caught his interest so he tried getting more information about prana by asking some of his sisters but when he inquired about it they had just looked at him funny and ignored the question so he never bothered again.

It had not been long for Jaune after the process before his real training had started. The physical part of the training was him getting his ass kicked in close quarters combat again and then Shirou criticising him when it came to archery.

Jaune had questioned why they were learning long range combat since his father and sisters never used any type of long-range weaponry in training but Shirou had counted it by saying that there was nothing stopping your opponent's from just picking you off from a distance.

But the other part of the training was what had gotten Jaune really interested and that was when Shirou had shown him Reinforcement and Projection.

Jaune had completely thrown himself into this type of training the idea of being able to have a near unlimited number of weapons and being able to make yourself move faster and hit harder sounded invaluable.

Shirou had started him with reinforcement having him use it on plants and after that, he was allowed to do on his body. It was horrible Jaune learned that if you put too much prana into to something it usually explodes so he spent the rest of that day healing his arm.

0-0-0

They kept on hiking through the wilds until Shirou's sense picked up on something nearby.

Coming to a stop Shirou surveyed the area before preceding to sneak to some nearby cover. "Kid, get over here" he whispered quietly.

Nodding Jaune moved up next to Shirou as his teacher point beyond the bushes.

Through the gaps in the leaves, there was a clearing perfect for setting up camp. The only problem was...

* **ROAR! ***

Yeah that

In the clearing was a huge hulking mass of muscle and black fur, it stood on four legs that looked like they could crush a man, with ease. It had a black smoke oozing from its body and menacing red eyes that lit up in the dark woods.

The thing looked like some kind of demonic dog but it had three heads each one with their own set of ferociously sharp teeth.

"Well, I'll be... it's a Cerberus." Jaune heard Shirou whisper to himself.

"A what?" Jaune asked him quietly as not to alert the beast.

"A Cerberus it's a three-headed dog."

Jaune gulped "what are we going to do?

Jaune had never seen a Grimm like this before it had to be one of the more powerful ones that you don't normally see near the kingdoms you would hear stories about.

"I'm going to go out there and take it on, YOU are going stay here and observe, if needed provide me with some support."

Jaune's eyes popped out of his sockets and looked at the older man like he was insane. "You're going out there to that fight that Grimm on your own?"

"No, I'm going out there to pet it," Shirou told him sarcastically before he left leaving Jaune on his own.

"Asshole" Jaune grumbled.

* * *

0-0-0

The Grimm, creatures that now plagued the earth and their only purpose seemed to be was wiping out all of what remains of mankind. They all seemed to have black skin or fur with bones on the outside of their body for protection. Their forms ranged from animals to mythical creatures of the old world, it made the white-haired Archer think what the source of those monstrosities was but he had no time to fully investigate it at this point in time with all of his attention going to training the kid.

Looking at the Grimm Shirou began to look for any weakness he could exploit. From what he could see its body was more forced to brute strength so while it can hit hard, it was slow so speed was key to taking it down.

Shirou didn't waste any time as he already moved in going faster than the eye could see with air pushing against him.

The Grimm didn't even know what hit it with Shirou slamming into its side with unyielding force making its legs buckle as tried to hold its ground from the surprise attack.

Capitalising on its disorientation, A sword was already traced into his right hand.

Bakuya one of a set of twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya.

Made by the blacksmith Gan Jiang the twin swords had a strong affinity against monsters making them ideal for dealing with the Grimm. Although his were only just copies they were still more powerful than what he was used to with Gaia's presence now so weak, it made the cost of his tracing easier and improved the quality of his weapons.

Which made it all the easier for Shirou when the white sword sliced through one the beasts neck like it was made of paper. The lost limb dropped to the ground, black blood pouring out of its now severed neck before it dissolved into black ash.

The beast screeched in pain from losing one of its heads and retaliated back. It's now twin heads opened their mouths and to spew forth... fire!

Catching him by surprise Shirou made an attempt to evade the fire with flames only just burning the tip of his cape. Running from the flames Shirou moved to get behind the Cerberus.

Coming up on the back legs he traced Kanshou in his left hand then slashed at the back of creature's thighs with the twin swords. His arms moved in a blur as strike after strike connected with the beast's legs.

The attack had completely destroyed the back of its legs. With no support, it fell under its own weight.

Taking advantage of its fallen state Shirou reinforced Bakuya and threw making it spin through the air before it decapitated the beasts second head on its right stopping it from turning around to breath more fire at him.

The Grimm was now seemingly immobilized with its back legs destroyed and the loss of two of its head. It just continued to growl with middle head trying to get a view of Shirou as he climbed on its back with the remaining sword in his left hand.

Shirou made his way up the Grimm's back to the neck of its last head.

Twirling the sword before stopping it mid spin and jamming it into the creature's skull killing it for good.

'That was easy'

The rusting of leaves came from the nearby bushes and out came his student with the kid's eyes wide and the boy's mouth did not seem to want to close.

Jaune was having a hard time in what he had just witnessed he had just seen Shirou take down a powerful Grimm, one that usually required multiple hunters to take it on and Shirou had done it like it was next to nothing. It only just proved to him that he had a long way to go before he would be anywhere near his teacher's level.

Taking in Jaune's state of shock Shirou just smirked at the kid as the Grimm dissolved behind him and asked.

"Not bad for an "Old man" huh?"

Still smirking Shirou moved his right hand out as Bakuya flew right back into it like it had never left him.

* * *

0-0-0

They had set up camp not long after the fight Jaune was finishing pitching up the tents while Shirou was cooking up some of the food they had packed. No matter how little the ingredients Shirou somehow always manage to make the food taste amazing.

Making sure the tents were sturdy Jaune looked to Shirou "How long before the food is done?"

"Not long but this can't be rushed you have to be patient to get the best result." Answered Shirou not taking his eyes off of the food.

Having to still wait with nothing to do Jaune got up and went looking around the area. Walking into the nearby woods

It had gotten very quiet with the sun down and broken moon now out lighting up the sky.

Moving further away from the camp Jaune's mind started to wonder.

It had been a full two years with him under the wing of Shirou and the man had kept his word. Jaune had gotten stronger, faster and tougher with the hard training under the man's watchful eye. It made Jaune wonder if all Hunters have to go through such insane teachings.

They all could not be like Shirou, could they? The man was monster Jaune had never seen him get even a bit exhausted and now Jaune had just got a glimpse of the difference between them. It got him thinking if he could even meet Shirou's expectations.

'No, you can't think like that like' Jaune reminded himself as kept walking aimlessly.

He had been very afraid at the start of failing Shirou and of the man just washing his hands of him just like his dad had done.

Made him wonder if he could achieve his dream and prove to his family that he has what it takes just as much as they all do to become hunters. To get some recognition that he too could follow the family legacy and make them proud of him.

Sure Shirou was tough on him at times but stuck with him on getting stronger. It was nice to know that someone won't give up on him, hell if he even mentioned something like giving up Shirou would whack him on the head for even thinking about throwing it all away.

* * *

0-0-0

Still walking in the woods, a loud noise shattered the calm silence. A small high-sounding blast coming from the west of him scaring away the birds hiding in the trees. Going on his instinct Jaune went to investigate running in between the trees in his way.

'What the hell was that!'

He soon found himself at the top of a small hill and looking down he located the source of the noise.

At the bottom of the hill was a small road with three individuals with their backs facing Jaune. They had weapons pointed at what looked to a small traveling caravan of Faunus. It clearly looked like the men were robbing them at gunpoint having them all lined up on the side of the road. There seemed to be families in the group with the children hiding their faces in their parents embrace as they tried to calm them down.

"Now look here if you all want to go on your way, you're going to have to hand over anything of value." one of them spoke his voices was just full of false sweetness showing he didn't mean what he was saying.

"This does not need to end badly for any of ya."

"You heard him you animals hand it all over before I have to start making an example out of one of you!" The man's accomplice shouted at them smacking the butt of his gun into one of the hostages making them fall to the ground and the others screaming in terror.

Having seen enough and not wanting this go any further Jaune got ready to make a move.

He was bit worried, this would be his first time fighting human opponents that weren't Shirou but he couldn't just stand back watch.

Going back to Shirou was a no go, there was no telling if they would make back in time no he would do this himself and save them.

Reinforcing his body, he acted and jumped down the hill and landed on the back of one of the perpetrators making them crash to the floor knocking them out.

Hearing the loud thud, the two in front spun around to see their friend face down in the dirt with Jaune standing on his back.

"what the fuck?"

"Don't just gawk at him shoot!"

Bullets sprayed at Jaune as he evaded the bullets moving in different directions to get the robbers attention on him and keep it.

The Faunus seeing the robbers distracted moved, some ran to safety with their family and friends while one moved in to help their rescuer.

The Faunus jumped on one of the gunman's back trying to wrestle the gun out of their hands.

"Argh got off me you piece of shit."

See the commotion Jaune moved in on the other gunman while tracing a sword and reinforcing it to the point to be as hard as diamonds.

He started to deflect each shot as it came to him at blinding speeds and soon...

*Click*

... the man's dust clip ran out so Jaune moved in for the attack.

Accelerating in close on his target Jaune went in for a strike.

The man pulled his gun up to block but the sword went straight through it making the bit of the firearm flyout as it was torn apart.

Now with no weapon, the man was at the mercy of Jaune's fist as it smashed into his skull rendering him unconscious.

The young Arc didn't have long to take in his new victory as...

*BOOM! *

Jaune froze

A cold chill went down his spine as he robotically turned his head to see the last robbers gun barrel smocking and the Faunus that had helped was lying down on the ground.

Time seemed to slow down to crawl for Jaune seeing the blood slowly spill out coating the ground in crimson.

He had failed...

Jaune had failed to save someone.

What did he do wrong?

Was he not strategic enough?

Was he not fast enough?

Was it...

Because...

He was not strong enough?

The grip on his sword tightened.

'Not strong enough.'

His Jaw locked in place

'Not strong enough.'

His eyes blazed with the fires of rage.

'Not strong enough!'

The words kept repeating like a mantra in his head. Over and over about how he was too weak to save people too weak be a hero.

Jaune's world turned red and he roared.

"ARRGH!"

The shooters head snapped at Jaune to see the kid from earlier screaming at the top of his lungs sprinting towards him at inhuman speed.

Jaune didn't even give the man a chance within seconds he was within striking distance and didn't hold back.

Powered by rage Jaune slashed in a downward arc the blade tore through flesh and bone with little to no resistance.

*Thud *

It was over in less than a second the man's body dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

*Pant * Pant* *Pant*

Jaune chested was falling and rising with each quick deep breath he took. The red mist started to lift up and Jaune looked down. His shirt was coved blood as well as hands, it was warm on his skin as dripped down from his hands to the floor.

*Pant... Pant...Pant*

Realisation started to sink in

The sword dropped as his grip loosened

His bloody hands started to shake

His eyes widened as what he just done started to replay in his mind.

*Pant Pant Pant Pant*

His breathing started to become more erratic and uncontrollable. His stomach felt like it was doing cartwheels making him feel more uneasy.

'...killed...'

He had killed

He had-

"BLARGHHHH!" The contents of his stomach were spewed out to the ground before returning to breathing heavily.

He kept trying to get his breathing under control but his body would not allow it.

'I...killed...'

"Jaune..." A deep voice called out him.

Slowly turning around and still shaking he looked to see Shirou with a solemn look on his face. He was standing there with his swords in his hands and Jaune could see he was breathing a bit deeper than normal indicating he must have run all way here.

The group of Faunus that had fled earlier were now behind Shirou the parents of the families making their kids look away from the site.

Shirou started to walk slowly Jaune as he could when saw the boy's eyes starting to water and his body shaking like a leaf.

When Shirou got within arm's length of Jaune, he pulled the young boy into a very awkward hug something he would never do if they weren't in their current circumstances. Shirou was not the hugging type but the Jaune needed some kind comfort.

Jaune collapsed into Shirou's arms not caring about how uncomfortable they both felt while he wept.

"It's fine Jaune... It will be okay." Shirou kept saying whilst patting his back.

* * *

0-0-0

"…"

"…"

Shirou together with Jaune had returned to their camp with the young blonde not saying a single word since they had got back.

The Faunus had eventually repacked their belongings and took there fallen with them as they continued on their journey, but not before giving there thanks to Jaune for his rescue. unfortunately, Jaune was in no state to give any word back or even acknowledge their thanks, with him being impassive and unmoving. Shirou had to tell them it was alright and wish them luck on their travels.

So, the group of Faunus moved on wanting to get their destination and bury their fallen comrade. Shirou was now having to keep a watchful eye on Jaune because of the traumatic experience he had just gone through.

'how did we get to this?' Shirou asked himself internally.

This small trip was just meant to be for Jaune to test his skills against strong Grimm that lived out in the wilds but instead, Shirou now had to deal with a kid who had just gone into shock after his first kill.

He was not good with these types of things being nurturing and supportive he was more for dry humor and smart talk, the kid needed someone... anyone better than him.

But he was all Jaune had out here at the moment and it was not good idea to just leave this and let burrow. No Shirou had to get Jaune to talk about it if just to make sure that he was going to make it through this.

"...kid?"

"..."

No response

'Goddamit this going to be harder than I would like.'

"Jaune... I know that you don't want to talk about what happened but you can't just leave it alone we have to discuss what happened and the sooner we get it done the better." Shirou told Jaune but this time his voice had some force behind it.

Jaune eyes glanced at Shirou before they shot back to the ground.

"..."

Shirou narrowed his eyes and Jaune began to bite his lip.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Jaune started to shift his feet nervously.

"..."

Not being able to take the rising tension any more Jaune spoke in a quiet whisper like voice.

" I... k-killed someone... and I...I failed... I failed to protect someone."

Jaune nails dug into his palms and voice got louder as he spoke.

"How can I ever call myself a hero if can't even save one person."Shirou listened to Jaune as the kid expressed how he was feeling about the incident.

Shirou knew what was like to take a life and had not been easy for him the first time as well because of his dream of wanting to be a hero of justice. Thankfully Jaune was not him, no the kid was similar but their dreams were completely different. Shirou had wanted to be a hero of justice and save everyone not caring about himself which had led him here, he had stuck to his beliefs to the very end and he could never active them.

Jaune wanted to be a hero like he had heard from the stories told to him as a kid not just because he saw it as his duty coming from a line of powerful Hunters but because Jaune at his core just wanted to help people. That was the big difference Shirou had wanted to save everyone and eliminate the need for sacrifice. Jaune wanted to help people because he cared and as a sense of obligation.

Shirou had wanted to be in essence a superhero saving everyone because of a dream that was not really his. Jaune wanted to help the people who needed it and become a hero something that was much more possible. That what it was all down to in a sense but it was still too early to tell what will happen to Jaune, so all Shirou could do was at least keep him on the right path.

"But you did save the others from the bandits," Shirou told the kid his face not showing any emotion.

"But my actions still led to someone dying!... and then because I lost control I killed someone!" Jaune shouted his emotions running wild.

Crossing his arms and leaning forward. "Jaune maybe your actions killed that man..." Shirou said his voices unforgiving and Jaune flinched.

"...but your actions saved all the other back there, we don't know... if things had gone differently it could have been much worse and there could have been more than one innocent person dead tonight." Shirou sigh after he finished speaking and rubbed his forehead.

"What I'm trying to get through to you is you CAN'T save everyone."Shirou looked away for a brief moment. "Believe me, ok you just can't... no matter how hard you try."

"Then who did I save then?" The young boy asked his mentor desperately. He wanted to know what he was meant to do.

Shirou looked at Jaune dead in the eye. "You save the people who matter most to you, you save the people who need saving and you don't go trying to save the people causing sorrow for others."

"Then what did you do with those people who cause that sorrow then... just... kill them and let them die!"

Shirou didn't even blink. "Yes"

"What...?" Jaune breathed out as couldn't believe he just heard that from his teacher.

"Sometimes... you have to be willing to do what others are not in order to protect and save people, the people who wish to harm others for nothing but their own selfish interests are the people who can't be saved," Shirou explained

"That's... not what a hero does."Jaune tried to argue back.

"And what do you know about being a hero... all you have to go on are them old stories for children that glorify the idea of heroism. Having knights in shining armor come in kill the monster and save the people." Shirou was getting a bit angry at the naivety Jaune was showing.

"The stories you have are simplified versions of how the stories of heroes go, they are done to inspire people. No, unlike the stories heroes do not live happily ever after, they don't save everyone and sometimes they had to take lives to save others."

"A hero isn't just someone who wins, who saves the day. A hero is someone who does what other cannot at the expense of him or herself." With his peace said Shirou sighed to calm himself then added.

"That is why I think what you did was necessary action, doing what those other people back there could not... you saved them."

Jaune who been deathly quiet under Shirou's speech said timidly. "b-but I... killed someone."

"Did you enjoy it?" Shirou fired the question at him.

"NO OF COURSE NOT!" Jaune was angered that he would even think that.

"Good then remember that feeling."

Jaune looked confused

"Remember that feeling if you take another life remember the people you saved today, remember why you're doing all this is because you want to help others and remember your dream but don't let it control your life." Shirou stated before getting up to give Jaune some time to think about what was said.

Shirou hopes that he was doing the right thing he didn't want Jaune's ideals to betray him and leave him surrounded by corpses like him. But he had to have faith that the boy will turn out all right and be better than him.

* * *

0-0-0

Leaning against a tree waiting in what best can be described as the middle of nowhere was a now sixteen-year-old Jaune Arc. His short and scrawny frame was long gone he was now with a muscular build and was tall for his age being at about six feet. The bangs of his hair had started to lose their golden color and was now looking whiter. He had been told that his slight physical changes were the influence of the class card but he didn't see anything negative about it so he didn't mind.

He was wearing an outfit similar to his mentors which consisted of a black armored sleeveless shirt with black pants and metal planted boots with a red tattered cape attached to his waist. The outfit was given to him as a gift from Shirou for his birthday.

Speaking of his mentor he had made Jaune wait out in the middle of nowhere by a long dirt path road on the lookout. The whole reason they were out here was that they had gotten word of Bandits that had set up camp nearby. Shirou would deal with the camp and Jaune would take on any that made run for it.

It was one of the things Jaune kept on learning with Shirou for two years now and that was the world was not as peaceful as many would have you believe it is. Sure, people knew about Grimm attacks, the bandits, and the white fang but most people would pretend none of that existed while they were safe behind the kingdoms wall or a well-defended village. But if you out went out beyond them and their safety nets you would soon be faced with Grimm every couple hundreds of feet or murders and thief's that will try to rape, kill and steal from you.

His hand tightened into a fist as he thought about the people out there that would call for help but most of the time would be left unanswered. Sure, the councils would sometimes send help to the people outside their kingdoms but usually only to the ones that benefited their kingdoms such as for trading or ones that could be used as outposts. The other people and settlements as far they were concerned didn't matter as much saying that they ran the risks when they would not take up refuge within the kingdoms. They even sometimes stopped Hunters from helping even though they meant to be separate from the government but the Councils did have some control over the headmasters of the academies and control over the CCT so it was not uncommon at times for distress signals to have "technical difficulties" meaning what help did arrive was usually too late. All because it would make the Kingdoms look more secure and safe discouraging people from wanting to leave.

It made him feel sick to believe that the people in power who were put there to serve the needs of the people would be so corrupt. Jaune knew that after he had been shown all this that there was no way he could just go back to being ignorant he could not just look away while people suffered.

The people out here needed real help instead of relying on the corrupt officials, a wandering Huntsman, and even some time bandits. Yeah that's right sometimes the settlements out here would make deals with some bandit tribes so they would gain protection from the Grimm and the more cut-throat tribes in exchange for supplies and weapons it didn't seem very smart but when people are desperate they will do what they can to survive.

Jaune's attention was soon drawn to dirt path from what sounded like shouting.

"Hurry the fuck up I'm not dying because you're too slow!"

"I'm trying...who hell was that guy back there?"

"I don't know some type of Huntsman."

Hearing the shouts Jaune looked down the dirt path to see a group of about three men that looked to be running away from the direction of where the Bandit camp was meant to be.

Getting off from the tree Jaune looked and started to assess the escapees. There was nothing to write home about them, they looked like your typical low life trash that would steal and kill because they could. A snake tattoo was visible on all their forearms it was the mark of their little group calling them self's the Vipers. They had gotten their name from their leader who was apparently some kind of snake Faunus and they were restively new but their group had been causing a lot of pain for the people living nearby in the last few weeks. They didn't look like much of a threat most likely they had run scared as soon as Shirou showed up at their camp.

Jaune sighed to himself knowing what he will have to do and just closed his eyes before his lips moved saying something too quiet for anyone to hear. Then blue energy shot forth from his right hand and materialized three slender rapier-like swords holding them in between each finger.

Black keys weapons that can be used for both close range and as throwing knives with the ability to bind a person if stabbed into their shadow.

Jaune exhaled preparing himself for what he was about to do. Pumping some prana into his foot Jaune throttled forward kicking up a cloud of dust behind him. Within moments he was upon them and acted swiftly by smashing his foot in the chest of one of the bandits. The power of the kick was so great it sent the victim blasting into a nearby tree trunk.

The other two had stopped moving and were just looking at him with their eyes so wide that they were at risk of popping out of there sockets. Jaune was not one to let their shock to pass him by and instead threw on his Keys into the furthest one's shadow pinning him where he stood.

"Shit it's another huntsman"

"What the hell I can't move!"

The closest one charged at the blonde with his weapon drawn going for a strike as Jaune put his now two blacks in each hand. The man had finally got in close to Jaune and put all his weight down into his strike.

A loud sound of metal smacking against metal rang out to all as the man's attack was quickly parried and he was pushed back. Jaune now having an opening struck and plunge his other sword in his off-hand into the man's body killing him with minimal effort. Ignoring the man still pinned to shadow as he screamed Jaune turned to at bandit he had smashed into the tree only frown by seeing the man, up and running with a limp to treeline.

Tensing his left arm Jaune threw a black key and watched it sail through the air as it sought outs its target. The runner soon met their end as the sword darted into their back and they collapsed to the ground.

'One more left' he told himself as Jaune looked to the final bandit who eyes were darting around looking for some way to remove his statue-like state. Sadly, for him, the only way out would be for Jaune to remove the key binding him.

With the man not going anywhere, Jaune reluctantly made his way to him.

"PLEASE STOP!" The bandit was begging and Jaune was sure that if the key was not pinning him the man would be on his knees right now.

Jaune moved right in front of him and the man was starting to get hysterical saying he would do anything and that he would turn his life around. The man was like caged animal willing do and say anything if there was a chance of survival. Sadly, all his repenting would not bring back the people his gang had killed, the people whose food they stole and the fear they caused that had brought the Grimm to some villages ending more innocent lives.

Jaune eyes hardened into cold steel as he brought his sword up overhead and about bring It down until.

"PLEASE DON'T I'M SORRY!"

Jaunes hand wavered and shook.

Before his grip on the sword tightened.

"I'm sorry too." Jaune whispered back as his sword swung down ending the man's life.

Letting the swords dematerialize Jaune just closed his eyes and sighed. He didn't like killing he hated it but he could not let his emotions get the better of him. That had happened once before after his first kill Jaune had tried to never take another life again which led him to spare someone which had come back to haunt him later with the person he had spared had killed two innocent young girls. It had been his fault if he had just been stronger with his resolve they would not have died so Jaune needed to make sure he would not make that mistake again.

When he was a little kid Jaune just thought all, he would have to do as a hero was save people. Of course, he had never truly thought of what he would be saving people from. He most likely would have believed that he would be protecting people from monsters like the Grimm but in reality, people can be much more monstrous than the Grimm it seemed.

'maybe this is just-'

 ***Dodge!***

Jaune's eyes snapped open as his instincts screamed at him to move so he leaped without any hesitation and in corner of his eyes, he caught a flash of crimson.

*SLASH*

Hastily repositioning himself a few feet away Jaune stared at his attacker.

Wearing high heel black boots with black legging immediately told him the gender of his assailant. Moving up she had a short skirt with what looked like some type of dust sheath attached to her belt. The woman was sporting a red and black shallow cut dress with a pair matching red gauntlets. In her hands was a red three-foot single bladed Odachi. Her face was concealed under an intimidating four-eyed Grimm like looking mask. The only defining trait about her physical that he could make out was the raven black hair that was majestically blowing the wind.

The masked woman readied her weapon into a fighting stance.

The look in Jaunes eyes turned to steel It was easy to tell that woman was dangerous so he needed to be on his guard. He had no clue as to way she was attacking him but she didn't look like she was about to let him know anyway.

Tensing his muscles to prepare himself for approaching clash all Jaune could think of at the moment was one simple thing.

'Curse my shitty luck!'

0-0-0

* * *

 **End**

 **Their boom Raven has made an appearance what could she be doing found next time if I keep on going.**

 **Jaune's outfit is Emiya's second ascension outfit from FGO and the red cape is the same as Blackened Emiya's from the Fate Grand order movie. I just like the tattered cape I can give him a new outfit later on if you guys want.**

 **I'm not sure if my writing style is any good hell I don't think I have a style. Anyway, there should be no more time skips now at least I have none planed. Let me know if there is any way for me to improve my fights since I would like the clash between Jaune and Raven to be much better in the next chapter.**

 **Let me know if this any good and if I should keep this up.**

 **Now to explain some things**

 **First, the catastrophe if you some of you know what happens later in Fate grand order story you might know what this could be about. Anyway, the planet is fucked with both Gaia and Alaya being now incredibly weak.**

 **Alaya is desperate and is grasping at straws to resolve things so she sends her last and best agent out to help train Jaune so he will be ready for a contract with her. She's willing to risk it if she could possibly get another powerful agent like Shirou working for her.**

 **Obviously, Shirou is trying to make sure that never happens and make Jaune into something better or at least won't end up like him.  
**

 **The class card was given to Shirou be Alaya to help give Jaune power as well as to speed up Jaune's progression when came to his fighting. It could be seen as Alaya making an investment in him by giving him the power from the card.**

 **The bit about Jaune killing someone was well... how I see it is Jaune has grown up only being told about stories of heroes so he wants to be one. The problem is that most stories you tell to kids leave out the darker details like for example when I was a kid I just thought King Arthur was just some guy that pulled out a sword became king, slayed monsters and the such. But when I found out the whole story when I got older I thought wow that much darker then I was told. Anyway, I think that if Jaune wants to be like a hero he will need to willing to take the burden of taking a life just like many heroes before him because I can't think of many heroic tales where the hero didn't need to kill someone.**

 **What else is there oh yeah!**

 **The bit about Prana can be seen as just aura I could go into another time in a different chapter. I mostly put it there just for Shirou to mess with Jaune a bit.**

 **Thanks to:**

 **BlitzNeutral69, Thedarkness1996, Trzn, Howler66, Goose Attack, Kharn, ENDDRAGON369, X3runner, mx2432, Rionline, warrior of six blades, Neema Amiry, Midnight49, Ultimate Kuuga, Nerf585, The Rupture**

 **For the reviews**

 **Big thanks to Lord Rikudou for his help with throwing his ideas at me with his world building it helps.**

 **Anyway, I'm going back to FGO to save up quartz for Jeanne alter. Are there any servants you guy are waiting for to roll on? My luck is really wired on the game I get nothing on the 10 roll except the one time I got Mordred. But when I use the goddamn tickets I get waver, Jeanne and best fox girl Tamamo. -_-**

 **Anyway, see you next time maybe.**


	3. Chapter 3-Catching the Raven's Eye

**Author notes**

 **Hi again I'm finally back with the next chapter for this story but first holy shit over 400 followers on this story. when first made this I thought I would be lucky to even reach 50 so thank you all.**

 **There were a few things that made me take longer to get this one ready. First is that this chapter is 14,000 words so yeah, secondly was me trying to do a fight scene which was much harder than I thought it would be and then I struggling how to portray Raven which I will get to in a bit. Finally, I got word back from the person looking over this chapter and I'm glad that I waited because I think they help improve this story a lot with the spelling and grammar.**

 **So big thanks to Grim of Brennus Hope for going over this for me. So the spelling and grammar should be a bit better now.**

 **Other things to get out of the way**

 **Someone said that Jaune unlocking his Aura or Prana in the last chapter should not have hurt him because unlocking Aura is not painful. Yes, that is true but I was not trying to imply that it was the aura hurting him. No, it was the class card fusing with him which I guess in my scenario would be compared to shoving a world made out of swords into his body which is not pleasant.**

 **While we are on about it, the class card. As some of you can tell I'm not using it like it was in the show with the whole install and include thing. In this fic it's used to give Jaune some aspects of UBW and to build up the rest of it by himself in time. I'll be honest that from a writing point of view it was to just explain away Jaune having UBW because I could not think of a better way to do it, maybe there was one but I could not think of it.**

 **Now I'll address the biggest thing that people have been asking which is about Jaune's family. I don't want to make them seem like uncaring assholes so hopeful I can show that later in this story when I get a chance to have their point of view on the matters because so far it could be seen as just how Jaune perceives everything. But that's not to say that the family is still not in the wrong. People were asking how his family has not noticed him being gone or his change in appearance and I can say that they have or at least some in the family have so, a bit of that will be explained in this chapter. Also, yes Jaune dose still live at home he is just away a lot with Shirou and he has kind of mislead them on what he has been doing which will be look at in a bit. I'm not saying that this all works but I think it's better to try and show that there are being acknowledged and not just ignored.**

 **Jaune's appearance don't worry he not going to start getting a tan, changing eye colour and have all of his hair go white. Like many of you have said I don't want to turn Jaune into a mini Shirou I do want to show that his time with Shirou has influenced him but I still want him be his own person. I think Jacks mentioned in a review about giving Jaune guns like with EMIYA alter and am really tempted to do that because unlimited lost works is epic. It would also give Jaune his own weapons that do not need to keep being traced if he made them himself but what do you guys think.**

 **Just to let you know I have changed some things when comes to characters which in this case is Raven nothing crazy more just her backstory and motivations but I just wanted to let you all know because I get some people don't like it when you do that and they start complaining. I will explain myself in the notes at the end.**

 **In this chapter I tried to show more of different people's point of view so during the fight it will switch between Raven and Jaune. I hope I made that work because I do like it when you get to see another person's perspective on things.**

 **Alright enough Rambling you guys don't want this you want to go onto the story.**

"Talking"

'T _houghts_ '

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series**

* * *

0-0-0

 **Chapter 3 - Catching the Raven's Eye**

Death

It was the natural order of things that everything will one day cease to be.

No matter how much people would like to forget their own mortality it did not change the fact that any day could be your last.

It was something Raven had to learn early on in her life.

When both she and Qrow were only a few years old they had lost their parents in a horrific attack by the Grimm on their hometown. Raven may have been young but she could still recall the screams of her parents telling them to run as the beasts broke into their home. She remembered the chaos in the streets as people trampled over each other. People knocking others down just so it could buy them more time for a chance to escape the hungry jaws of those monsters. Raven would never know how she and her brother had made it out of that whole nightmare escaping with just their lives.

She did not know how long she and Qrow had to fend for themselves out in the wilds.

But she could remember how pathetic she felt

Getting by on what they could scrounge up in the woods and having to sleep in the freezing cold at night while being exposed to the elements as they slept.

Raven hated thinking back to those days It always made her feel so...weak.

But it all changed for the both of them when the tribe found them within the wilds. The tribe had offered to recruit them if they could prove their worth in a challenge and with how desperate they were with getting by on their own they could not just turn them down.

The challenge was that she and her brother along with the other potential recruits were rounded up and then thrown into a pit being told to fight it out. It was only because of the pure instinct for survival that had gotten Raven through that whole ordeal and by the end of it both her and Qrow were in the surviving quarter that had passed.

After that, they were accepted into the tribe and it was from there on Raven learned how to do things no normal young girl would ever know how to do.

Such as how to pickpocket

How to plan and set up ambushes

How to lead her people

How to kill

And most importantly how to survive

That was what her new family had taught Raven and it had made her strong.

No longer was she the young scared little girl who cried about missing her parents no longer was she a weakling who was barely getting by out in the woods starving and cold.

The tribe, her family had saved her and molded her into something better, they had made her into a survivor.

Raven owed everything to them so when the elders asked her and Qrow to infiltrate Beacon to learn how to kill Hunters to put a stop to them from attacking their home she jumped at the chance to repay them for what they had done for her.

She could still remember her first time entering the kingdom of vale... and she hated it.

Everywhere she looked all she could see was weak-willed fools.

From there on getting into the Academy had been surprisingly easy and the entrance exam was laughable with how effortless it was for them.

With what Raven had to go through in her life it was next to nothing.

Of course, not everything went as planned with Qrow getting partnered with the imbecile that was Tai and she had gotten a naïve girl by the name of Summer. At least they all wound up on the same team named called STRQ.

Raven would admit that she didn't get along with both of them at the start, but in time she had come to respect Taiyang's strength in battle and Summers quick decisive tactics as their leader.

Things were going smoothly but It was not long after they attended that Raven and her brother gotten called up to the headmaster's office.

To meet Ozpin the elusive headmaster of Beacon Academy.

He told them both how he knew that they were from a bandit camp in the wilds looking for ways to exploit hunters but instead of turning them in he offered them a choice. To leave the school before he got the authorities to arrest them for crimes against the kingdoms or to join him as his two watchful eyes for something they had no idea of at the time.

If only she had known.

Having no other real choice, they complied with him doing whatever dangerous missions the man would send them on while in exchange they would be pardoned of any crimes they had done in the past and their team would also get some more leeway with whatever trouble they got themselves into. Within the years Raven and Qrow had become two of Ozpins best agents in his inner circle but while Qrow had seemed to be fine as the man's little pawn, she was not. Raven had never fully trusted Ozpin there was... something always off about him to her that her brother had refused to see.

And she was right when the Professor showed them a hidden side of the world that only a few knew of.

Things like magic and old legends

The existences of the Queen

He had even had given them the 'gift' to shapeshift into birds just to prove his point that it was all true.

Raven had a hard time dealing with all this.

Finding out that nearly everything she knew was a lie and that people like Oz were just hiding it from everyone while he was playing his little games in the shadows. It had made her feel small knowing that something so powerful was out there and it had made Raven feel weak once again.

It was clear something big was going to happen in the coming years and she wanted no part in.

But sadly, it was not to be

Nearly a year after she had just had a daughter. Yes, she and Tai had a baby girl named Yang, Raven was still not sure looking back on it as to why she had been with Tai maybe it was because she had just gotten fresh out of Beacon and was experiencing "Romance" for the first time. She was young and attracted with how strong Tai seemed to be but, in the end, it would turn out that the man was nothing but a weak-willed fool just like the rest.

Anyway, not long after the birth of her daughter Ozpin had sent her out on a mission alone as an escort for some important individual that Raven didn't really pay attention to, seeing it as nothing of significance at the time.

Of course, it was not just a simple escort mission that the man had sent her on.

Oh no

He had sent her to protect a fucking maiden and did not tell her knowing that she would have refused if asked with her knowing that they attracted attention from the Queen like crazy so Raven wanted to stay as far away as possible from the maidens.

Ozpin had not wanted to bring too much attention to the spring maiden by having tons of Hunters guarding her. Unfortunately, the wise old man had failed and they were soon ambushed. Not being fast enough to protect her the maiden was killed. Then as if fate was laughing at her, Raven had been picked as the next Spring maiden out all the others it could have been it had happened to her.

All because of Ozpin's meddling, Raven had now become a big piece in his silly little games and with a big target now on her back, she had acted fast by escaping via a portal.

After that Raven refused to go anywhere near Oz in case he found out about her new status as she had no desire to be that man's weapon.

She needed people she could trust.

Qrow was a no go as Raven saw him as a traitor having cut off all contact with the tribe and was now Ozpins little pet.

She needed to get away from them all if she wanted to survive. So, she returned home with the intent at the time on taking Yang back to the tribe to rise her into a strong individual like herself so she could survive and not turn out like a weakling just like her father.

Tai would not have it though refusing to have their daughter raised with a group of killers. They had gotten into a big fight over it with Tai not budging and Raven not willing back down but she only had so much time before Qrow or Ozpin would have eventually gotten back on her tail.

In the end, Raven left on her own telling herself that it was for the best since it would keep Yang safe from both Ozpin's and the Queen's dirty paws.

She returned to the tribe her one true family that would stick with her and soon took leadership of it making it into the now strong Branwen clan.

She would still keep tabs on her old teammates in the years to come seeing her brother become an alcoholic, as well as finding out about Tai and Summer getting married and having a daughter. Raven had secretly felt a bit hurt about that and was even more secretly devastated when Summer was killed.

She saw Summer's death as the old man's fault and Raven would never forgive Ozpin for his foolish mistake that had cost her old friend's life.

But she could not afford to get emotional and needed to stay focus on what matters

Which was surviving,

And If there was one thing Raven had learned about survival it was one simple rule.

The strong live and the weak die

Raven had seen it her whole life people who were too weak like the pathetic populous in the kingdoms thinking themselves safe within those walls not being able to handle the dark reality of the world.

It was something that always made her sick to see how people lived in the kingdoms. How they were almost oblivious to how things really were out there in the real world. Those people were far too soft, take away the high walls that they had made for themselves and they would be nothing but lambs to the slaughter when the Grimm came.

Raven knew that the kingdoms will one day fall it was inevitable with how Ozpin was too stubborn and set in his ways to realize he was leading everyone to their doom.

Life within the kingdoms had made its people weak with its populous worrying about irrelevant things like employment and buying the new latest accessory. When just beyond those walls their enemy was out there waiting patiently for their time to strike. It was why Raven prided herself on the strength of her tribe because when Ozpins war comes she would survive just like how she had survived everything else that life had thrown at her.

But to do that she not only needed to be strong but would need strong individuals in her group to protect her people.

It was what had led her here today in the middle of nowhere within the wilds. Word had started to spread of some individuals taking out Grimm and Bandits alike. So, when She had come nearby one of the bandit groups that seemed to be next in line to be taken off the map, Raven wanted to find out who could be responsible.

What She was not expecting though was what came next.

Hidden in one of the many trees in her bird form was when she saw witness to it.

It had started off with nothing interesting just a bunch of weak cowards running away from the camp she was going to spy on.

But that changed when her eyes caught a person in the shadows down the path cutting off the cowards escape route. At first, she thought maybe it was a Huntsman but no at closer inspection showed it was a young boy in what could only be described as combat attire.

'What is he doing out here?' She focused her enhanced animal sights on the boy.

'Too young to be a Huntsman so maybe he's one in training but if so where was his team or his professor... mayb-'

Raven's thoughts completely halted when she saw the boy mumbled something that even her enhanced sense could not pick up and blue energy shot out of his hand to make three swords.

'Magic!' Raven shouted in her head and if she was in her human form her eyes would have shot open.

Being a Maiden for so long Raven knew how to use her magic and sense it. The young boy was giving off some magical energy from within him to make these swords, to the average person it would have looked like some kind of semblance but it didn't escaper her, the boy had just used magic.

Although it did now raise the question of how he could have access to such an ability.

The only ones Raven knew that had magical potential were the maidens, Ozpin and the Queen. Being a maiden was already off that list with the person in question being male and she had been spying from afar on the two chess masters for some time so the boy was not allied with either of them.

'Could it be that the boy was a neutral party not working for Ozpin or the Queen.' The idea popped into her head.

Before she could ponder on it any longer, her attention was grabbed again as the boy took off after the cowards.

Raven watch with her interest piqued as he kicked one of them straight into a tree and trap another within his own shadow with one of the swords.

Her interest kept on growing by the second with the boy as she watched him kill the next one within seconds. As he continued it was clear to Raven that the boy was definitely not a Huntsman in training, no the academies would try to coddle and ease their students into this cruel world. They would not have them take a life at such a young age.

As things were becoming clear to Raven she was still nowhere near close to figuring out about the boy.

She would give him credit for having the will to take a life something that many were too weak to do but that was not a measure of strength.

So, as she saw the last man fall to the ground and the boy closed his eyes to calm himself Raven had made up her mind.

'Let's see what you can really do?'

Spreading her wings Raven took off from the branch she was resting on and swooped in on the unsuspecting blonde. Coming up behind on her target Raven shifted into human form and went in for a fatal slash.

 _Slash_

It would seem that her target just kept on continuing to impress her as she saw him dodge the attack before repositioning himself a few feet away from where she stood. Raven could feel her lips curl into a small smile hidden under her mask.

'Good it would have been a shame if you had just died after catching my interest now show me your strength.'

* * *

Silence

"…"

"…"

It was almost deafening for the women and young teen as they stared down at each other.

Raven had now taken the time to fully look at her target and she was liking what she seeing.

No, not in any way of attraction but how the boy's face was set.

His face had lost all its emotions as he gave her a cold hard stare that sent a slight pleasurable shiver down her spine. It was a face that Raven knew well as it gave nothing away to your enemies.

It was a face made and fit for battle.

It was a face that some people would argue should not belong to a young teenager but for Raven, it brought back memories of her youth when she saw the people from her tribe go off to battle.

The mostly blonde-haired boy... no young man, showed no fear as he faced her, something that was a nice refreshing experience for the clan leader as she always so used to her enemies and even at times her own people being too afraid to even look at her head on without wavering. Having enough of savouring the silence Raven readied herself and closed in on the teen going in for a quick slash to his torso. Her opponent did not move still standing tall and unyielding as the distance kept closing in between them.

Her blade was now inches from piercing his chest.

'What are doing you fool?' She thought in confusion

Her eyes soon widened as she witnessed his recklessness.

The boy had turned his body at the last possible moment making her sword hit nothing but thin air.

'Fast'

The young man had waited her out making Raven lose patience leading to her striking first so he could counter and use the opening left behind.

His lips moved, whispering something to himself as long sword appeared into his hands and Raven had to hastily to reposition her sword to intercept his swing making a loud metallic noise ring out through the empty grassy field by the path.

The two of them had now locked swords with both fighters trying to push back the other.

Raven was actually having to put some effort into holding her ground as her feet dug into the soil and the two swords strained against each other.

The young man glared right at her as he moved his face closer to hers.

"Who are you?... why are attacking me?" His voice was hard and straight to point wanting to know what purpose she had for assaulting him.

Sadly, Raven was not in the mood to indulge and instead pushed back with more of her strength before playing dirty and went in for a lighting kick aiming for his head.

The young man's eyes widened as he saw her foot coming at him so he broke off from the sword lock to doge just like what Raven had wanted.

Now with having her sword free Raven went in for the assault.

The two combatants went at it again their swords moving so fast they become a blur to the untrained eye. From a distance, all you could see were red and silver streaks smacking each other igniting sparks.

This continued on for a while until after a few dozen blows of their weapons, the two of them disengaged retreating a few feet away from each other as both tried to cached their breath.

Controlling her breathing into a steady pace Raven was struggling to calm herself.

Her blood was pumping and she could hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears. She hadn't felt this alive in a while with the last couple of years of just fighting other weak bandits or wannabe Huntsman.

It had been far too long for her to feel the thrill of a good fight.

Someone to test her strength against and to think she would be experiencing this feeling from a young teenager.

Any other person his age would have been wiped out within the first few strikes from someone of her calibre.

But no, Raven could already tell that this boy was different and it was not just because of the use of his magic.

Raven could see it clearly now, the look in his eyes

The type that would not give up or submit easily to others no matter what you did.

His eyes had the same look she once had, the kind willing to do anything to get stronger and would stop at nothing to achieve it. Raven wanted to get stronger, to never be weak again like when she was a little girl, to never feel so worthless. But now the question that was eating away at her was what was it that made this young boy want to gain such strength?

What was his drive?

What was his goal?

The answers alluded her

Oh well...

She would just have to find out after she broke him as Raven was having way too much fun fighting to stop now. Sheathing the sword into the rotary chamber to change the blade Raven pulled it back out again the whole process took less than a heartbeat to complete.

The sword that once been a crimson red was now a white-blue that reflected the light from the moon on it making it look somewhat majestic to behold.

Her opponent raised a single eyebrow to show his confusion.

Preparing to go for another round Raven shot forward going in for an overhead strike.

 _CLANG_

Again, Raven and her opponent locked swords but there was a different outcome of the blades now clashing against each other. Raven allowed herself to smirk in satisfaction as she saw her opponent's longsword begun to be coated over with ice. The blade she was using was infused with Ice dust which meant that it was now making the opposing long sword dip into sub-zero temperatures and the sound of his blade feeling the strain was now audible.

The blade of the longsword was soon completely covered in Ice making it look like a large sharp icicle.

Now all Raven needed to do was apply a bit more pressure and...

 _SHATTER_

The frozen sword exploded into a dozen tiny shards that scattered around them.

Raven would admit that she took a bit of pleasure in seeing her opponent's eyes widening in shock as well as the brief spark of panic that lit up in those blue orbs of his.

Now was the time,

He was vulnerable,

 _Weaponless,_

She would not like this opportunity pass.

So, her blade went in for the kill but it would seem that the boy would still not go down easily when he weaved around her slashes that only just kept skimming across his aura field.

In that time while she was attempting to slice through his flesh the boy had called upon his ability once more preventing Raven from continuing her assault.

Letting herself gaze upon the new sword in his hand, Raven's crimson orbs bulged at what she was seeing.

The boy held a single-edged Odachi in his hands.

It was the exact same as the sword she held in her own hands all the way down from the Ice blue blade to the gun triggered handle. He had somehow made a copy of her sword.

'Is that how his power works he can copy people's weapons?'

The boy must have seen her hesitation upon seeing the replica of her weapon since he now went on the offensive.

And, Raven's shock just kept on growing as the lad took on crude mimicry of her very own fighting style.

'Does his magic not just copy people's weapons but their skills as well?'

The two of them were now going at with their blue blades moving in a small whirlwind of sparks as both of them tried to gain the upper hand.

As the fight went on, it was clear that Raven held the advantage with her mastery of the style of laidō.

Making it so she was soon able to exploit the weaknesses of the boy's inexperience in the form that he had taken with her sword.

The boy's face grimaced in pain as she chipped away at his aura and with Raven wearing him down he soon found himself backing away from her assault trying to make some breathing room. Raven just kept slowly advancing on him not wanting to lose any of the ground she had gained.

But, it would seem that in her new-found advantage she had let herself get cocky and dropped her guard.

It was why when she saw a small smirk make its way onto her opponents face she knew that she made a miscalculation and that was exactly when her trained instincts kicked in screaming at her to move as the sound of something soaring through the air reached her ears.

 _Thunk Thunk Thunk_

Raven had nearly been caught by the fast-moving projectiles that had torn up the soil where she had just been standing seconds ago. Her vision of the objects that had been fired at her was covered by a small dust cloud made from the impact as well as concealing her opponent from her line of sight.

'Damn it! What the hell was that and where did it come from?'

Raven kept herself ready and waiting for what her foe might do next with his newfound breathing room.

Her muscles were tense and Raven was sure her aura would be somewhere in the yellow if she was to check it on her scroll. Her free hand was shaking from the anticipation of what other tricks this young warrior would pull out for her to test her strength against it.

And as the dust started to lift Raven was given a clear view of what had been fired at her.

There nailed into the ground were three... swords?

At least that was what she was tempted to call them since a more accurate description would be three chunks of raw metal, because those things were too gigantic to be wielded by any normal human being.

She watched with interested as the swords began to dissolve into blue particles.

More of the dust cleared and Raven could now see that the teen was just standing a few feet away from where she previously had seen him. The only difference that her eyes could make out was he had now ditched that mockery of her sword and was now sporting two curved swords in his hands instead.

'What are you planning?' She was not going to doubt the boy any longer when came to his skill if he could go this long against her then there had to be something he was scheming.

When the dust was finally gone Raven finally understood why the boy had smirked as she looked up and witnessed...

Swords

Dozens of them suspended in the air all aiming at her. She could sense all of them being filled with magic making them spark and look unstable.

'Clever bastard'

He knew that close combat was something that he could not win against her so he planned to take her out from afar.

Raven didn't have any more time to think as the teen raised his hand before slamming it through the air and pointing at her as if to give the order to open fire.

And open fire would be the right words to use as soon the command was given, the swords burst to life throttling towards her as fast as any bullet she had ever seen.

As she watched the swords coming to rain down upon her Raven could only mutter one word that came to mind.

"Shit"

 _ **BOOM**_

* * *

Jaune was really starting to think his luck was out to get him, it was like this in the past few years, it had started to take a lot worse. He did not recall doing anything to warrant him with such shitty luck. He stayed away from black cats, he never walked under ladders and to his knowledge never broken a mirror.

So, what had he done to be attacked by some crazy lady!

'I mean seriously who hell is this chick!' Jaune screamed internally.

The woman came out of nowhere and just proceeded to clash against him, not even wanting to exchange words or anything during said clash.

She just kept attacking like some crazed animal, Jaune had at first assumed maybe she was with the bandits he killed earlier but that couldn't be it because from what he and Shirou had heard, those bandits were not the type to take in women for recruiting.

It was possible that she was affiliated with the white fang since Jaune had been told that they wore Grimm masks and that the group had gotten much more violent in the recent years but he couldn't see anything on the mad women to indicate that she was a Faunus.

Besides that, Jaune had no choice but to fight her since the masked woman wasn't playing around but was going in for fatal blows against him from the start.

He had made a mistake at the start of the fight when the woman had infused her blade with Ice dust, which led to his traced long sword getting shattered, he panicked in the midst of it and just improvised by tracing the women's Odachi while using a makeshift copy of her style.

It had been foolish of him to think that he could use a weapon and style on this woman who clearly had years of experience in mastering it.

It was why later in the fight the woman was punishing him for that foolishness as she exploited every opening he made in the laidō style. As this happened Jaune was taking the small hits as she withered away his Prana protecting his body, that he knew something had to be done or else he may really suffer for his recklessness.

Which was when he had started using range attacks to his advantage by calling upon three massive swords to give some room while he traced a few dozen swords to unleash upon her and finally end this fight before it dragged out too long.

Because if that were to happen then Jaune would be screwed.

When the swords were all on stand-by in mid-flight behind Jaune, he pumped as much Prana as he could into to them to make them, as Shirou put the term, "Broken" which meant that they would generate overwhelming destructive power in an explosion when they came upon contact with anything that it hit.

Watching the broken swords descend upon the masked women a barrage of explosions went off lighting up the dark woodland area and scaring any birds in the trees throughout miles away.

Jaune sighed to himself glad that it was over.

The woman was skilled in close quarters combat that he had no chance of winning with how he was now. He would admit it felt like he cheated a bit with using the Broken Projections but Shirou had told him that you can't always play fair if you want to keep on living.

Looking at the now smoking crater, all that could be seen was the upturned dirt and burned patches of grass.

'Well, nothing to do now but-' Any thought of what came next was stopped right in its tracks as a sound that Jaune could only describe as distortion carried itself thought out the air.

Jaune's gaze went to the sound and found not too far away from the crater was some kind of red swirling haze with a black void at its center. The obvious question on his mind as to what it was, was soon answered as Jaune's eyes stared in disbelief as the masked women fell out of the void kneeling on the ground clutching her side.

"Ooooh, you have got to be shitting with me" The young male Arc groaned out as it appeared that the women had a way to transport herself through portals.

Which not only meant that she could avoid his projectiles but is also meant she could close any distance he built up dragging him back into a close-range fight.

More broken swords started to materialized above him as Jaune tried to hopeful take her out before she could utilize that ability again.

If only his luck was with him.

* * *

Raven would admit, out of all the things she was expecting she could not have foreseen that the boy would start firing high velocity exploding swords at her.

Turning her gaze to her side she went to inspect the damage that had been received in that last attack. Removing the hand from her side Raven got an interesting revelation from what she saw.

Blood.

There on her hand, was a crimson liquid that brought a tiny bit warmth to her cold fingers and on her side revealed a fairly deep cut that was slowly oozing out blood that was starting stain her dress.

Putting a good amount of Aura into it the wound to stop the bleeding and sealing it and leaving her with a fresh new scar. One of the swords must have grazed her but more importantly, it told her that the swords were strong enough to break through her Aura fields.

Raven's eyes widened at the realization

If she had been anyone else then that last attack would have turned her into chunks of flesh for the crows to feast on.

This was starting to get dangerous now.

She could have died just then and that would have been it, no two ways around it.

The boy was strong and at such a young age had the potential to grow even stronger.

So much that the idea itself, made a chill go throughout her body.

Of course, any more daydreaming would have to wait, she was still in a battle so it did not surprise her to see her opponent aiming more of those swords at her wanting to take her out for good.

Clutching her sword Raven steadied herself to use her semblance again.

The swords descended once more.

 _ **BOOM BOOM BOOM**_

And so, the game of cat and mouse began with Raven now on the defensive, having to constantly opening portals to narrowly evade the swords.

All the while said swords continued to decimate the once peaceful grassy field with explosions ringing off every few seconds and the ground itself was being upturned with dirt flying everywhere in every possible direction.

It was a small miracle that their fighting hadn't attracted anything else to them.

After about ten minutes of the repeated use of her semblance, Raven was starting to feel the strain from the constant usage, the only comfort she could take was that her opponent was as well with having to keep making so many swords.

Sadly, this could not keep going on, not only because running and dodging was beneath her, but right now it was a game of outlasting the other, who would run out of Aura first and Raven was not about to let luck decide for her.

So, while in between the barrage of swords raining down on her Raven pushed herself to open one more portal.

Right behind him

The planned had worked as she leaped through the portal and ended up coming up on the boy's back.

Again, her target's instincts proved to be sharp as he immediately blocked her stab with the two twin swords.

One white and one black

Even though the surprise attack had failed all was not lost because Raven now had taken back the advantage of her being too close for any more of them annoying exploding swords.

Seeing an opening near his unguarded rib she aimed her sword and moved in.

'Your mine!' She laughed to herself and sprouted a small victorious smile.

 _CLASH_

That smile was quickly wiped off her face

In one swift and fast swing, his sword counted hers in the last possible moment.

Raven went for another opening but was meet with the same result and the now close-range fight was going much more differently than before with nearly all of her attacks being countered like the boy could respond to all of her attacks before they could even hit.

'But none of this is making sense!' with the number of openings, available Raven should have had no problem in cutting him down instead he was matching her blow for blow.

Earlier when they had clashed swords his styles made sense yes, they were imperfect but they worked in protecting himself and giving him chances to go on the offensive. But this... whatever it was left so many openings that it was near suicidal yet he kept on countering and pushing her back.

'It's almost like that he was intentionally leaving those openings... that's IT!' Realisation set in as Raven found out what the boy was doing and she did not know to commend him for the balls to use such a suicidal style or to go with her inner swordswomen and scorn him for using something so foolish.

The boy was leaving all the openings in an attempt to bait her in so he could counter and strike back.

It was so reckless that it defied logic by putting himself in danger like that. It was even more annoying because she now had to try and ignore instincts that been installed in her at young to not going for the openings.

When she tested another strike, it was again countered and the boy attacked with Raven's guard going down from trying to formulate a plan around his odd style. He got in close within her guard and weaved around her body so he was now behind and slashed at her exposed back.

 _Slash_

Raven desperately tried to evade as she felt the blade cut through the air from behind her. Twisting around to face her him, it would seem like that his attack had missed but her crimson eyes from behind her mask caught something in the light.

There slowly floating down to the ground in front of her like a feather was a few strands of black hair.

The sword in her hand began to tremble in rage and her vision soon went red.

"That's it... the boy dies" It was just a whisper but the amount weight it carried itself throughout the night.

* * *

Jaune was struggling to stay upright after the fight had really started to take its toll on him. His sight was getting hazy his arms were getting stiff making them hard to move and it felt like his legs would give out from under him at any moment. The constant use of tracing and reinforcement had put a huge strain on his body which was why it felt like he may pass out at any second now.

In the midst of this dire situation, he had one important thought that kept going through his mind.

WHERE THE HELL WAS SHIROU!

It should not have taken him this long for him to take out a simple bandit camp. It had been Jaune's only real back up plan if it proved like he had assumed that he could not take this woman on his own.

Which was why he was just kept stalling for time until Shirou made it back.

Unfortunately, it seemed that his teacher was taking a much longer time than he had anticipated and Jaune was starting to worry. If the man didn't make it back soon, Jaune was certain that this woman would be the death of him.

His masked assailant had just stilled all of a sudden and he wasn't complaining using this small break to get a much-needed breather.

In those few seconds, it felt like to Jaune that someone had stopped time itself as he felt the temperature in the air just plummet.

Jaune gulped as he felt an old survival instinct kick in and it was not one he had learned from Shirou.

Oh no,

This was something Jaune had earned from growing up in a house with eight women in it. It was a skill not many could achieve and only a few could master.

It was the ability to sense a women's fury

Jaune had only ever felt it a few times in his life like when he cursed for the first time in front of his mother or the time when he ruined a date for his oldest sister when he was a kid so she had stuffed him into one of Mordred's old dress that she had refused to wear.

So Jaune knew that when he felt this sensation it almost always meant something bad for him.

Steeling himself Jaune dared to look at the only female close to him

'yep...she's pissed.'

The signs were there for him to see

The clenched fists...check

Shoulders shaking in rage...check

Ominous presence coming from her... _check_

And with the way that the four eyeholes of the mask seemed to be almost glaring him down even more, Jaune would bet that under it was a very pissed off expression.

'Why is this happing to me?'

He had no idea how he had done it but Jaune had somehow awoken the beast so to speak

...just another thing to add to his string of recent bad luck.

He stood almost frozen as he witnessed the woman slam her sword back into its sheath and his ears picked up on the rotary chamber roaring to life as it spun picking a new blade. When it was unsheathed it looked like the sword had been dipped in the pits of hell as fire danced around the newly blade with the added bonus of illuminating her mask giving it an even more menacing look.

She slashed the sword in front of herself going in a horizontal which unleashed a torrent of fire at him.

Seeing the fast approaching inferno of death Jaune said what he felt was appropriate at this point in time.

"SHIT!"

Before he rolled to the ground as the arc of fire passed over him with flames licking at his exposed skin on his arm possibly giving him first degree burns.

When the fire passed over him it did not stop going until it collided with the treeline behind him setting ablaze to oak wood which soon escalated into a small forest fire.

Getting back on his feet Jaune was not given much time before the women pounced on him swinging her sword in fast and heavy strikes.

Jaune was now just trying to keep her at bay and not be overwhelmed.

Her attacks now were completely fuelled by anger with no pattern to them making it near impossible for him to keep up and react.

Jaune kept it up for as long as he could but eventually, something had to give out and for him, it seemed that his twin swords couldn't handle the abuse any longer.

 _SNAP_

His two blades broke from her last strike now leaving Jaune totally at her mercy but it would seem that she had none for him as she slashed down on his chest.

 _ **SLASH**_

"Argh!" Jaune needed to grit his teeth to muffle his sounds of pain.

As he felt the sword brake through what was left of his prana field and the blade cut into his flesh while at the same time burning it.

He must have fallen down on his back as he could feel the nice cool grass brush against his skin.

His vision was really blurry now but if it was because of blood loss or just from pure exhaustion he could not tell nor did it matter since the masked lady will probably finish the job soon.

'I'm going to die, here aren't I?' He rhetorically spoke to himself.

The idea of dying out here in the middle of nowhere felt horrible to him.

What would his family think?

Would they be sad...

or would they just not even notice?

No...

That wasn't fair they would be sad hell they would be devastated because...

...because he did care for them and he knew that they did as well even if things were pretty bad now it did not change all the good he had experienced when he was a kid.

He still loved them...it's just...

He just wishes he could have gotten the chance to prove himself to them. To show his dad that he would not get himself killed out in world because he was weak and to keep his promise to becoming strong.

'Guess I can't keep my word after all huh?'

There was also Shirou his pain in the ass teacher what would he think of his death. The old white-haired bastard would most likely find a way to bring him back just so the asshole could kill Jaune himself for being SUCH a reckless fool.

Jaune didn't want to die

He had to move!

'GET UP!'

But he couldn't do anything he was barely able to move his body right now.

He could feel the vibrations of the footsteps of the woman as she took her time getting to him.

'Come on Jaune get your ass up you always get back up'

The masked woman was soon looked down at him like some kind of messed up angle of death.

"You have proved yourself strong young one be proud of that." Her voices seemed sincere it showed that she meant what she was saying and from what he could tell she had calmed herself down from the outburst that happened earlier if only slightly.

"I have a lot of questions for you and I want answers but first... what is your name." Jaune was having a hard time making out what she was saying maybe because he was so close to passing out but...

Questions?

If all she wanted were some answers to something why attack him in the first place and did it mean that she won't kill if he gave her what she wanted?

Or would she just end him after she got what she came for?

He had no idea but if she wanted his name she could have it

"M-my name is Jaune... Jaune Arc." He somehow managed to mumble out but sadly for her whatever she said to him next was lost as his vision began to darken and he passed out.

* * *

Raven looked down impassively at the now named Jaune Arc.

Her mind was working as fast it could processing the new information and the thing that stood out the most was obviously his last name.

Arc

Raven had both heard and knew of the Arc family they been around for a long time producing fine and strong Hunters throughout History. She knew a bit about the current head of the Arc family.

Alexander Arc was a renowned Huntsman known throughout the Kingdoms. She also knew that the man was part of Ozpins little circle, being one of the best that the headmaster had at his disposal. From what Raven's intel had told her was that Ozpin had been sending Alex out on covert operation most likely to do with the Queen or something from an old legend.

Raven speculated that Ozpin was having him look for some old artifact from the oldest of legends in history. But, she had no true idea if that was true since if she got too close she could be found out and her status as a maiden would be known.

Taking a closer look Raven could see the similarities between Alex and the boy. The same type of face and eyes but his son's hair had some white to it. He would probably be considered to very handsome someday.

But if the boy was Alex's son how come she heard nothing about his magic. Raven was sure that it would have been a big topic of discussion that she would have listened in on.

Was Alex keeping it a secret from Ozpin?

Was it possible that Alex didn't even know about his son's magic?

More questions were beginning to pile up but Raven could maybe get them from the boy. Looking back at Jaune she could see that she had given him a nasty wound in her anger.

It was not her fault she cared deeply for her hair more than maybe most women but Raven will admit she got carried away with all the adrenaline and anger from the fight. The injury was not too bad Jaune would be fine if he got someone to look after him.

Raven supposed she could do that maybe.

Yes, she'll take him back to the tribe fix him up and interrogate him. If he complied she would even offer him a place in her clan.

Jaune had already proven himself to her with his strength and skill. The boy had intrigued her and Raven wanted to know everything from and about him.

As she went down to take him with her, but Raven halted as she felt it.

Something was making its way to them and she could feel the similar magic energy that was similar to Jaune but it was much greater.

What could she do? the fight with Jaune had made it that she was in no condition to keep on going.

After a moment to think about it survival was the most important thing. Raven will fall back for now and will have to come back for Jaune another time. Maybe he will surprise her again by gaining even more strength.

Anyway, Raven cut open a portal back to the tribe and as Raven went to go she took another look at the teen slowly breathing on the ground.

There was one more thing that Raven could quickly do before she departed.

'It will only take a second'

* * *

Darkness.

Empty.

Cold.

Wherever Jaune looked, there was nothing but a dark void.

He couldn't see anything.

Jaune couldn't even see his own hands.

Hell, he couldn't even feel his whole body.

What the hell was going on...

How long had he been here for?

Was it a few minutes...

Or hours

He could not tell and it was driving him crazy

Was he dead?

All he knew was he was stuck here

…

…

…

...

It was who knows how long before he felt it.

Yes, he felt something like a cold breeze hit him from behind.

Looking in the direction of the new sensation that he felt Jaune was meet with a light.

A small speck of light from afar.

Is this what people meant by light at the end of the tunnel?

With nothing else to do Jaune moved towards it and as he kept getting closer, it seemed like the light was in the air.

...

Still moving he started to feel himself move up a steep rise in the ground almost like he going up a hill.

...

As he kept on getting closer things kept getting weirder as the breeze had returned but this it was much harsher like he was walking sandstorm or blizzard.

...

When Jaune had finally made it to the summit of the hill he found the light source.

It was a sword

A beautiful glowing sword that giving off a warm feeling like it was calling to him.

Jaune moved towards it but...

 _BZZ_

Static filled his vision as a wave of pain hit him.

Jaune took another step despite the amount pain.

 _BZZ...BZZ_

Again, more waves of pain ripped throughout his body with more static obscuring his vision and it kept on going with each step closer to the sword.

 _BZZ...BZZ...BZZ_

Closer...

 _BZZ...BZZ...BZZ...BZZ_

Just a little more...

 _BZZ...BZZ...BZZ...BZZ...BZZ_

Jaune was almost there, the sword was right in front of him but the pain...

...it felt like his body was being ripped apart.

With one more push he reached out to grasp the handle but...

 _ **BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

* * *

"Kid, can you hear me? Kid come on wake up...Jaune!"

Hearing his name being shouted at him Jaune's eyes flew open and was met with a pair of concerned golden brown eye's that could only belong to one person.

That's right his pain in the ass teacher!

Seeing his mentor that had been with him for years now Jaune greeted the man respectfully.

"Where the hell have you been, you old bastard!" He screamed at his teacher making the man pull back his head from the unexpected outburst.

The older man just sighed "geez well it's good to see that you still kept your manners with you back in the land of the living."

As the words sunk in Jaune widened his eyes and went to sit up but a sharp pain in his chest stopped him in his tracks. His eyes winced when his senses started to come back to him and he felt constant stinging sensation down his torso. Eyes moving down Jaune was meet with a nasty looking wound mostly covered in dried up blood with the skin around the wound looking black and burnt.

Seeing the kid looking at the injury Shirou informed him about it.

"You got lucky," Shirou told him as Jaune's eyes went back to his.

"Whoever cut you didn't do it deep enough to kill you but just enough to give a bit of blood loss that could have led to your death in time without anyone to attend to it." Shirou watched as realization set in for Jaune with his close brush with death.

"Thankfully whatever cut you also cauterize most of the wound slowing it down and when I got to you I patched the rest up myself." Shirou finished explaining

"But what about the woman?" Jaune asked wanting to figure out what happened to his assailant after he lost consciousness.

Shirou just raised an eyebrow at the question. "If you're on about the one with the mask she upped and left through a portal looking thing when I made it to the clearing but not before giving you one last look. Other than that, I don't know what happened before any of that."

Jaune just sighed feeling dejected not only had he lost but he no clues as to who the masked woman was and what she wanted from him.

"Speaking about what happened care to explain what went down while I left you for just a few hours." Shirou inquired his student whilst looking around.

Jaune following his teachers gaze and paled slightly.

There right by the path were the cold dead bodies of the bandit he had disposed of earlier but that was not the worst of it.

Oh no.

The whole field looked like a damn war zone with craters everywhere and small fires still going. Half of the trees were still on fire from the masked woman's attack and the ones that weren't are now brunt down husks.

Chuckling nervously Jaune suddenly found the ground very interesting.

"err...well you see."

And so Jaune explained to his teacher how his simple guarding job to stop any fleeting bandits turned into a fight between life and death with a crazy woman trying to kill him. Shirou didn't say anything just standing there looking at him as he told the story. And when Jaune had finally finished he looked back to Shirou to see his shoulders shaking much to the teen's confusion.

The man kept shaking until-

"Hahahahaha!"

Jaune's jaw dropped as he possible for the first time witnessed Shirou do as most people would say burst out laughing.

If this was any other time Jaune would have took out his scroll and taken a picture to forever immortalize this moment but he felt a bit sour that his teacher took amusement from his misfortune.

"It's not funny!"

"Ahhahaha..ooh, but it is" Shirou tried to say back in between his laughter. "It's so funny finally seeing someone else with as bad luck as me!"

Jaune just sighed as it seemed that his teacher would be having his fun for a few more minutes so he looked back at the cut on his chest. His fingers traced it as he felt the now damaged skin against his hand. The wound would take maybe a week to heal if he let his Prana do it, maybe longer but Jaune would still be left with a pretty big scar across his chest.

Shirou having now finally come down from his little laughing fit, saw Jaune intensely looking at his recent injury.

"It's gonna leave you with a scar you know."

Jaune only reply was just a mere hum of acknowledgment so Shirou tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"Come on now it's not all bad, I hear that girls find scars to be sexy."

Jaune just looked back him with his brow scrunched up in confusion. "What's there to find attractive about damaged skin tissue?"

Shrugging his shoulders Shirou just said, "I don't know kid it's just a saying."

Rolling his eyes Jaune just put his hand out asking for help getting up and said. "Whatever I'm still a bit concerned how calm you are when I was nearly killed by some crazy masked woman."

Pulling the kid up Shirou just replied back. "Oh, stop being such a drama queen, hell when I was younger I got stabbed by a masked woman as well and you don't hear me complaining about it."

Surprise clearly on his face Jaune wanted to know more. "Really?"

Shirou just smirked at his expression. "Of course, heck I remember she had purple hair wore some strange dominatrix-like outfit with a face mask and she stabbed me through the arm with a nail when I first met her."

Jaune's face morphed into something that could be said was of pure confusion as he questioned the bit that stood out to him the most from that sentence.

"Where and what were you doing that would involve you getting nailed by a dominatrix." He asked hesitantly, as Jaune mind started to wonder if his teacher was into some... peculiar activities.

Shirou lost the smirked pretty quickly before he sent the kid a light glare. "You're asking too many questions."

"No... I don't think I'm asking enough of them." Jaune countered.

Shaking his head and wanting to move on from this current subject Shirou inquired about something else. "Just forget it okay...anyway, where is the bag?"

Jaune just looked completely stumped. "What Bag?"

His teacher's eyes narrowed as he explained. "Yes, the bag, you know the one that I left you with while I went off to the bandit camp. It has our supplies and clothes in it so where did you put it?"

Jaune had to think hard about because all of the commotions that had happened in the last few hours Jaune had completely forgotten about their supplies. The last time he remembers having it was when he kept it by the tree he had been standing under earlier.

Oh no

Turning his gaze towards the trees Jaune paled as saw the tree in question all charred up looking like it could fall down at any second with a single touch add with the few flames still flickering on around it.

'This is bad very bad, Shirou is going to be pissed.'

He started to panic as his teacher gaze followed his to the desolate trees. Jaune just stood still as he watched and saw Shirou's eyes ever so slightly bulge meaning that his teacher must have found out where he had left their equipment. Jaune was unable to even say another word before the older male ran off to the burnt tree. He could not bring himself to look so his eyes went to the ground as if it would fix all of his problems.

It was not long before the sound of footsteps made its way to his ears and when he looked back up to meet Shirou.

Jaune could see the small twitching on his brow, that was the only giveaway to the man's annoyance.

Dumping something to his feet Jaune looked down to see the burnt remains of their supplies. All their food, money and spare clothes were all burnt and torn to nothing more than ash now.

Going back to face his teacher all Jaune could do was scratch the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Haha...err my bad?"

Shirou's didn't respond he just kept looking at him with a totally serious face before he spoke his words seemingly both quiet and powerful at the same time.

"It's gone...it's all gone."

Jaune was starting to feel a pit grow in his stomach as Shirou went on. What could have his teacher seemingly so upset? Was there something important or of value in the bag that Jaune didn't know of.

Guilt was beginning to set in until he heard what Shirou said next.

"The Food... it's all gone, you burnt it...you burnt it all to hell!"

Jaune's almost completely face faulted as he found the whole reason why the man was so upset was that of some burnt food!

"I didn't burn shit it wasn't my fault if you want someone to blame do it to that crazy lady that almost killed me!" Jaune argued not wanting to take the blame for something he was not at fault for.

"BOTH you and that woman are to blame but since only one of you is here, YOU will have to take all the blame, then won't you?" Said Shirou sternly.

"How can you be so upset about some burnt food, but just brush the fact of me nearly dying, it's just some food!" Jaune's voice raised finding this whole argument simple ridiculous.

Shirou was starting to get mad from that statement. "Just some food? Do you know how long it took me to make this? The hours spent making sure that everything was done to perfection and getting the most flavor out of it all!"

Jaune just rolled his eyes at that. "You called me a drama queen about my brush with death but here you are getting all worked up on some snacks. You obviously have gone senile with age, old man if that's how priorities are set."

His teacher's eyes were twitching twice more as the man continued to glare at him.

With one act of defiance, Shirou spat out.

"Little brat."

"Asshole." Jaune shot back.

"…"

"…"

The two were now staring at each other in silence with neither one of them willing to back down. It was not long though until both of their shoulders were shaking and it looked like both of them were trying very hard to keep a straight face. It was only a matter of time before the dam broke and the teacher and student started to chuckle and laugh uncontrollably not being able to take the matter seriously at all.

Shirou was the first was one to regain himself and spoke to his foolish pupil. "Alright, that's enough messing around, come on we should go to one of the nearby settlements maybe they can help us out for taking care of the bandits for them."

Jaune just looked back questionable. "Do you really think they'll help us out?"

Shirou turned around and began walking in the direction of the village. "You better hope so because it's going to take us about a week to make it back to Dragontail, and that's gonna be a pain with no food or money."

Jaune just groaned realizing what Shirou said was true it would be a painful week getting back home. Hopefully, the village would help and maybe they could give him something for his injury to ease the pain and irritation.

Shortly falling behind Shirou, Jaune sighed out. "I really do hate my crappy luck."

Hearing him Shirou just hummed and nodded his head. "Welcome to the club."

It was going to be a miserable long trek back home.

* * *

 **Town of Dragontail, Shirou's house**

It had taken both of them just under a week to make it back to Jaune's hometown.

The village didn't have too much to offer but the little aid they provided was still very much appreciated. They had been given the basics such as some food and water for their journey back as thanks for dealing with the bandits.

The villages had been so grateful that they even fixed his shirt that been torn up when he had received his injury which Jaune was very thankful for since his outfit was a gift from his teacher.

Speaking of which, the wound is now more or less healed up, that was the miracle of Prana for you.

Now all Jaune had wearing was a very fresh-looking scar across his chest it no longer hurt as much but sometimes the irritation from his scar was making him feel uncomfortable. Hopefully, it would feel better in time. Looking at the burnt bag they had taken back with them and staring at what remained of his cloths Jaune spoke. "What am I meant to wear now?"

"Just keep wearing your current garb It's not gonna kill ya" Shirou spoke to him while carrying some boxes in his arm as he came out of a different room.

Peering down at his current attire, that he had to keep wearing for last week straight was the same outfit Shirou had gifted him.

"But I'll stand out way too much." Jaune did not want to walk through his hometown like this it would catch the eyes of too many people.

Not even looking at him while he put down the boxes Shirou spoke. "Kid your gonna have to man up and stop worrying about pointless stuff like that. Anyway, it's not like you have any other option because I'm not giving you anything of mine so you go out like that or walk through town in your birthday suit. Either way, people are going to notice."

Paling at the idea of going through town naked, Jaune had no other choice but to just go out in his current outfit.

"Alright then... what's with all the boxes anyway?" Jaune questioned, wanting to know why his mentor was lofting around all those boxes with an assortment of items in them.

Still carrying another box Shirou spoke up. "Something has come up so we are going to have to postpone our meetings for a while."

That took Jaune off guard, postpone their meetings? that usually only happened ever a few times in the last four years when he started training with Shirou.

"Oh, okay well err...but what's that got to do with all of the boxes?" Jaune was trying not to give off his disappointment with the situation.

The first few times Shirou put a hold on his training, it had left Jaune stuck at home with nothing to do and he hated it because he had no way of training other than with Shirou. He would always be just hold up in his room most of the time just trying to go over the more theoretical side of what he had been taught while just coming down for dinner with his Mom and younger sisters.

It was most likely that his mother just assumed that Jaune was going through some teenage phases with her son not wanting to be disturbed in his room.

"The boxes are because I'm packing everything up"

Jaune just looked questionably at him again. Why was he packing everything up for?

"The reason why is..." Shirou sighed before going on. "Jaune I'm not going to be gone for just two weeks or something like that... I could be gone for up to a year this time"

"WHAT! A year... but what for? What am supposed to do? I..." Jaune could not believe what he hearing.

Shirou had been such a big part of his life for four years now. The idea of the man just leaving him like that was devastating to him like he was lost with no guidance.

It brought back bad memories but Jaune stomped them down it was not the time to think about the past.

Jaune didn't know if he could handle all this and if Shirou left then it also halted down any progression he had built up after all these years.

How could he ever fulfill his goal if his teacher was gone for so long?

Shirou's face seemed to gain a more sympathetic look, as the man attempted to ease his worries.

"Jaune... I'm sorry, okay but something BIG is happening soon so I need to be ready for it. It's not something I can just Ignore so I need to go and I can't just ask you to just pack up and leave with m-"

Speaking up and interrupting him Jaune said. "Why not? I can help you! I can leave right now I'm ready to go!"

Still speaking with voice rising with as much passion that he could put into it. "If something is happening soon that's such a big deal then surely you would have better odds of doing it with me at your back."

Jaune could see that Shirou was not convinced so he kept on going trying desperately to make his teacher see that he was ready to leave and prove himself. "you kept on telling me that if I want to test myself than I need to go up against harder challenges."

Giving his teacher a small grin "So, a whole year out on the road with you, I'll be unstoppable."

He could see it Shirou was slowly coming around with the hints of conflictions showing on the older man's hardened face. It made complete sense to Jaune with how far he gone under Shirou's wing in the last few years with spaced out training with breaks in between then just think how much he could do in one year without needing to go and stay around at home.

The young Arc kept on going "Besides you told me years ago that I would go on as your student until you believed I was ready to move on and I gave my word that I would not turn away from this path so you can't just send me away."

Shirou didn't say anything back when Jaune finished he was rubbing the bridge of his nose muttering something under his breath.

"Your so damn stubborn you know that right kid?" Shirou slowly released the breath he was holding. "You honestly just want to leave and continue your training for a year, are you truly sure that's what you want?"

Jaune immediately without hesitation started vigorously nodding his head.

Shirou's eye's appeared saddened at the reply before he looked at his student and just slowly nodded his head.

"Alright kid fine, you can come with me I... think I have something that could work very well for your training."

Throwing his arms up Jaune shouted. "YES!" With his eyes displaying such bright happiness to the world. He quickly brought himself down, though now wanting to know what Shirou meant by something about his training.

The only response that his teacher gave him was slightly mysterious. "Oh, don't worry I think I've got something crazy that might just work."

"Now kid I've still got to pack everything up and move it out. So why don't you go back home and pack up everything you need then I'll meet up with you later alright?" Shirou told Jaune as he went to get more boxes and pack them.

Jaune frowned a little at being told to head home but It made sense for him to get what he needed from his room and besides he needed a shower a week without one had made him miss it so much.

So Jaune just nodded back to Shirou with a small smile on his face and left through the front door.

* * *

Watching the kid finally leave Shirou let his face twist into a hard frown and sighed.

'Why is it that things had to turn out like this?' The white hared Archer questioned himself wanting to know why things were the way they are.

Shirou was not blind, he knew that Jaune seemed to have some issues when it came to his home and family.

That Jaune lied to them about things or did not tell them the whole truth about what he was really doing was evidence enough even if it was a good thing for Shirou since if the kid did tell people about him then it would bring up questions that he wasn't ready to answer or couldn't.

Shirou just didn't think that things had deteriorated at home so much that the kid would jump at the chance to leave with him and seemingly not think about the fact that he would be leaving his family behind for a least a year. He had tried to get Jaune to talk about his home life but Shirou was sure, that the kid was either downplaying things or didn't seem to realize how bad the situation was for him.

He didn't know what was entirely going on but it was not anything horrifying that could call for Shirou's intervention. If it was something like Jaune was being abused or heavily neglected then Shirou would have acted without a second thought consequence be damned.

Thankfully it was nothing that severe but what he did find was still troubling such as Jaune seemed to doubt himself at times and the kid was possibly unconsciously always trying to prove himself, making him reckless by putting himself in danger.

Then there was the biggest problem that had shown itself when they had first met which was Jaune's latching on to him.

Shirou had hoped that Jaune would maybe lose some of it as he got older but the opposite almost seemed to happen with the kid being stuck to him almost like glue.

It took Shirou longer than he should have to realize what was going on.

Jaune was using him as some kind of substitute for a father or parental figure. When that revelation came clear to him it was already too late, Jaune had cemented him as that figure and he could not bring himself to ruin that for the kid.

But Shirou didn't like it, he would make a horrible role model and an even worse parent.

For crying out loud because of him, Jaune had ended up taking a life when he was _fourteen years old_ and now at sixteen. The kid could be seen as something very dangerous.

While the both of them got along and Shirou had found himself taking a liking to the brat. He had no idea that he would end up enjoying the time he spent with the kid even if Jaune had gotten his smart mouth attitude. That had come back to bite Shirou in the ass with Jaune making jabs about his age and hair just name a few.

Still, Shirou had got the last laugh on brat as his hair went white at the front. It was so funny watching the kid panic thinking that would be designated an old man before he was even seventeen.

But it all did not change the fact that Jaune's strong attachment to him was not healthy. Shirou hated the idea of having so much influence over someone. If he asked Jaune to do something then the kid would most likely do it without hesitation.

Jaune needed to learn to not rely on him so much and be more independent or at the very least start relying on someone other than just him. He would not always be there for Jaune so something had to be done.

Maybe getting Jaune away from his home for a bit would be a good idea. Shirou just hoped he was not making a mistake on taking him away. The last thing Shirou wants to do was to further mess up thing between Jaune and his family.

Between himself and the kid's family, there was no one else for the Jaune to be around so It might be a good idea to do something about that with what was going on out there.

Shirou had not been lying that something big was on its way with how the Grimm were now getting bolder in their behavior and now someone with a high affinity for magic had attacked Jaune.

Shirou was confident that he was not going to be able to keep so many things a secret from Jaune anymore so maybe it was time to start letting him in on some of it.

Taking an old looking book from one of the boxes around him, Shirou turned the pages until he stopped on what he was looking for. A small smirk etched its way onto his face. "Yeah this will work I did tell him that it was something crazy I had planned... I just hope the kid can handle everything once it's all out in the open."

There on the worn pages was an image of a pentagram within a circle surrounded and marked with strange symbols.

* * *

Walking down the Streets on his way home Jaune was pretty happy that he had somehow got his teacher to agree on letting go with him.

He had been so sure that Shirou was going turn him down and make him stay at home for a whole year. Jaune would have been doing nothing but twiddling his thumbs while Shirou would be out there on his own with no one to watch out for him.

His teacher could be stubborn at times wanting to shoulder all the responsibilities, but Jaune guessed he couldn't blame Shirou too much as they both did that a lot. As the both of them did like to keep things to themselves.

With Jaune, it was not wanting to delve into his home life with Shirou. Jaune kind of wanted to keep those two things separate.

Jaune was sure that his white-haired teacher probably knew more than he let on when it came to that subject but Shirou never push on it too much and Jaune was grateful for that. It was not like things at home were terrible but he just didn't feel comfortable staying there anymore.

Jaune had felt like he was deceiving his parents as the years rolled on.

It was mostly his mother that had gotten suspicious with the first year of Jaune being away for long hours every day. She had asked him what he was doing out so long and Jaune didn't know what to tell her so he had just said he was with friends.

It was not a lie Shirou was Jaune's friend...his only friend.

But he couldn't just wave it off later on, when his time away got longer, the longer his Parents had demanded an explanation was more.

To the point that Jaune had panicked that he spoke about that he had been making swords. It was a godsend when they had mistaken that for blacksmithing so Jaune had rolled with it, saying that he had taken up an apprenticeship in making weapons.

Again, it was not a complete lie, he and Shirou made weapons all the time with tracing.

Anyway, his parents had been happy that he had found some kind of career path he wanted to follow. It had given Jaune more leeway when he had been gone out on his excursions with his family thinking that his mentor was just taking him to other smiths to learn more about the trade.

There were somethings that Jaune could not pass off in more recent years though like how his fringe hair was now looking whiter like snow.

It was lucky that with how busy half the family was with them being away for huntsman activities that Jaune really only had to convince his mom that his slight hair change was because of him inheriting some late genetics from her.

She finally did accept that explanation but he was sure she was keeping an eye on him from now on.

Now walking deeper into the town, Jaune had taken note that many people were staring at him. It was understandable with him wearing his combat outfit. The outfit did attract a lot of attention with people stopping what they were doing to look at him and it was making Jaune feel uncomfortable.

Having only Shirou and his family as his only real social contacts had made him not good with such large crowds of people. It was not something he was used to dealing with because of Jaune being in the shadows around his family had made him not like being the center of attention.

It was a bit different when he was with Shirou out there helping people because to them he was just a stranger wanting to help. But here in his hometown, the people knew of him if only slightly with seeing him walking around when he was younger.

A part of Jaune was worried that one of them could ask his parents about him after witnessing him in his garb. He was scared that if his parents found out about his training his mom or dad would put a stop to it entirely.

He didn't want that he needed to finish his training before he could prove himself and show them he was a true Arc.

Jaune knew he still had ways to go if wanted to reach Shirou's level but he did wonder how he stacked up against others his age. Jaune knew he was probably nowhere near his sisters' skills because of their natural talent, but Jaune hoped that after all the time with Shirou would pay off in the end. He would admit that Shirou was a very strange and different type of Hunter than Jaune had grown up hearing stories about. But then again, his teacher had white hair in his twenties so of course, he was odd.

Jaune was now getting confused from the looks he was getting from some of the females as he walked with them looking at him funny before they quickly turned their heads away with their faces going a slight shade of red when they realized he looked back at them.

Yeah Jaune was not liking this at all,

He found it very awkward with all the eyes on him. It was why he started to wear very baggy clothes later in later years when he was not training with Shirou because they would not draw attention to him and they would hide his physique from his family which made them perfected for Jaune.

Wanting to get away from the stares Jaune quickened his pace wanting to just get home and pack.

* * *

As he got closer and closer to his home Jaune could make something out in the distance.

'is that...music?' Jaune was really confused why would there be music coming from his house. No one was meant to be home today with the ones that did stay at the Arc household were usually out the house at this time of day. Taking a longer route around to get a good view of the house Jaune was met with what looked like a party. There dozens of people all talking and laughing with food and drink all the while music played in the background.

Why would there be a party at his house?

He parents had not spoken of an upcoming party. Not they would mention it to him anyway with him being away a lot but he would think this would have had a huge announcement. It could not be some kind of birthday party because his sister's birthdays weren't until months away.

This made things more annoying and complicated.

Jaune had hoped to just go in through the back of his house and hastily go up to his room but he could not do that without being seen.

That was going to make things awkward for him yet again.

Sighing Jaune looked through the crowd to see if he could recognize anyone.

He didn't,

There were a few that stood out him thought, some man with messy green hair that looked to be zipping around the place talking a mile a minute, and next to him was a grey-haired man with a big glorious mustache who was laughing wholeheartedly with a drink in his right hand.

Across on the other side where two women that Jaune would admit they were quite beautiful. The one on the right was middle-aged woman with light blonde hair tied up in a bun with bright green eyes that reminded him of some of his sisters. She looked to be rubbing her brow and shaking her head at the two men mentioned earlier. In her other hand, she was holding a... riding crop?

Jaune was not going to trace that, he did not want to know how she utilized a riding crop in combat just thinking about it made Jaune remember what Shirou said about dominatrices. A cold shiver went down his spine maybe he should introduce the two of them

Just to piss off Shirou

Now looking at the woman to left she too had her hair in a bun but her hair was as white as Shirou's. She was wearing some kind white military outfit that just screamed Atlas. On her side, she had a curved dueling saber that Jaune traced adding it to his own collection and finding out the sword concealed a smaller blade within. The woman appeared to be enjoying the frustration of the other one.

Moving on Jaune kept on searching before his eyes finally recognized someone

His oldest sister Olivia who he had not seen in a long time with her being a full-time Huntress.

With not seeing anyone else Jaune decided to bite the bullet and finally go over to the party.

He'll just ask Olivia what was going on before he would make haste to his room and grab a quick shower.

'Hopefully, this all won't take too long' He told himself as he slowly walked towards the house to find out about the celebration.

Of course, Jaune had forgotten about his horrible luck so, the odds were not in his favour sadly.

0-0-0

* * *

 **End**

 **There finally done it! I hope this chapter was up to your standards I tried to make the fight scene passable but I don't know how well that went. I don't know if this was an improvement over the last two chapters in terms of storytelling. I keep double thinking if the pace I'm going at is too fast or slow I don't to rush but I also don't want to bore anyone so, let me know. Also, how was the change in perspectives for you guys I want to start doing more especially next chapter for Jaune's family. Tell me what you think of how I'm handling people interacting with each. Any feedback on how to improve would be appreciated**

 **let me know what you think!**

 **So next chapter Jaune will be at a party which will be my take on Jaune making a big spectacle in front of everyone. I was planning on having him fight his Father like in Fate stay arc but I feel like it would just be an inferior version so I plan on going with what some of you guys said in the reviews and have him fight one of his sisters. I already have one in mind everyone's favourite rebel. Plus, that leave a fight with Alex open later for Jaune or maybe even Shirou.**

 **Now to explain things**

 **I'll go on about the fight first.**

 **Okay so I hope no one is upset with Jaune losing I know that you could say that he should have just pulled out some NP and ended it all but I never said that Jaune had access to NPs yet. The reason being 1. it will leave Jaune room to progress and unlock them later on and 2. Nobel phantasms are kind of OP so it would be really dull if he could on the 3** **rd** **chapter bring out something like Excalibur and wreck everything then the only thing that could even be a problem for him would be other people from the Fate universe. So, I'm trying to keep a balance for now anyway because like in the summary Jaune is not prodigy like his sisters so his skill has come from years of hard work and the help of the class card.**

 **Jaune has become very powerful I mean he did last long against Raven who is no push over. So, while he can** **fight with swords and such at close range he is not good against someone like a master swordsman such as Raven. Jaune at the moment works at his best when at long range like the Archer card with Jaune firing swords from a far or a bow which we have yet to see.**

 **So yeah, I'm more just worried about making sure Jaune is good but does not become some Gary sue who knows everything when it comes to fighting and who has no weakness.**

 **I think it would fit in with him being good as an Archer who can fight at close range when needed but excels at long range. He will be better with a spear then a sword because of Scathach but I guess I'm trying to keep him balanced or as balanced as you can get when you have the potential to make dozens of NPs.**

 **let me know what you think.**

 **Now onto how I've done Raven**

 **With her I wanted to kind of make something like how I thought she would have been when we stated to learn more about her in volume 5. By that what I mean is I assumed Raven was going to be like a 3** **rd** **party who would be against both Salem and Ozpin being a kind of a medium. It looked like it was going there when Raven said that Yang and Weiss don't know Ozpin like she did so I hope it was going to show that maybe Ozpin is not a great saviour that the show had been kind of portraying him as. But no, it went nowhere and I mean they could have done something like the man has been alive for thousands of years just fighting Salem and seems to making no progress but just holding the Grimm at bay and did anyone else find it messed up that Ozpin possesses people and eventually mergers his mind and soul with his new reincarnation meaning that won't Oscar become just another personality within the mass of other within Ozpin or I have completely misinterpreted that.**

 **But back on track with Raven. In the volume five there are bits that don't make sense to me such as Raven says she does not want to deal with Salem because Raven knows she will lose but if that was the case then why did she kill the spring maiden knowing that if she got the maidens power then she would get a massive target on her back. I mean I know her whole thing in the show is that the strong survive but it was also said that Raven was very smart and cunning so wouldn't it be better for survival if she didn't kill the maiden and put huge target on her back. That was another thing I thought might be why she hates Ozpin was because he was somehow involved her maiden states or the with death of summer which could be why she resents him. Whatever anyway the reason why Raven beat Jaune was while he is good Raven has years of experience over him so, he stood no chance in close range but as your saw Raven would have died at long range if not for her semblance.**

 **Speaking of her semblance I have changed it a bit it now works as Raven can now open portals anywhere for short to medium distances but for long travel she need to 'mark' someone for that. Once someone is marked Raven can open a portal to them at any time as well as having a sense of where they are like a beacon. So yeah, I hope how I did Raven was okay with you lot but just remember that the stuff with Raven was from her point of view so it could be seen as her wanting to portray herself in better light and think it was reasonable for her to win because out everyone we have seen in the Rwby cast that has flighted so far Raven maybe be the strongest. Hear me out of all the fighters we have seen so far, the strongest most people would say is Qrow but it has been said that Raven and Qrow are equal and now add in the fact that when that was stated no one knew about her Maiden powers so yeah, I think she could win in fight against him.**

 **Jaune's family**

 **I will own up and say that stories where the characters parents or family are distant or maybe slightly neglectful are a guilty pleasure of mine. Which is why I want to be careful with this because I don't want this to be one of those stories where the family just forgets about one of their own and does not care about them or god forbid they are abusive because I always have a hard time suspending my disbelief for any of that. My favourites are more of the ones where you can maybe see why the family is like the way they are and have them be aware of it. I don't know if I'm getting it across what I mean but I hope this story dose not turn into one of the bad ones that handle this type of thing horrible.**

 **So, I have tried to show that people have taken notice a bit like his mother when comes to Jaune being away a lot. I know that some of the explanations are not great like if they think Jaune is just with a blacksmith then why have they not gone to see who is teaching their son and all I can say is that they are busy. Not a great excuse but I mean his dad and older sisters are away lot so that helps plus his mom would need to deal with the younger sisters and mean in family with 8 kids someone is going to be left out more than others it was just Jaune was unlucky. I have tried to get away with no one seeing his physique with him wearing baggy clothes to hide it which is not too far out I mean Jaune hoodie in the show does not give much away.**

 **I don't want Jaune to just hate his family I think it would be better if he was maybe bitter towards them even if Jaune does not know it himself. Which I mean is I think Jaune would just try to ignore how he feels and try and bury it deep down. I mean it's something a lot of people do and think like Jaune that many do not want to hate their family so you just kept burying your feelings wanting to just keep everything fine at home. Of course, that is not healthy thing to do and it will get out soon.**

 **I hope that works well with all of you.**

 **There is more I want to say but I don't want to keep ongoing so maybe I will fill out more for you in other chapter notes.**

 **Again, a big thanks to Lord Rikudou who has been helping me with story ideas as well as getting me unstuck when I hit a bump in the story.**

 **Thanks for all the Reviews for encouraging me to go on and giving feedback on how to improve.**

 **If any of you are interested I made another story that is much shorter and less serious called Jaune's new Foxy wife which has a pairing of Jaune and Tamamo no Mae.**

 **Oh, crap I just remembered some of you have asked about pairings for this story. Okay I will be honest I'm new to all this so I have no idea if I can pull a pairing off and I don't want to just force it and have it come off terribly so for now I will just go along with the story and have things play out. But I will tell you all who I would like to go with and that would be Scathach, Raven or even both but I like said nothing is set in stone yet. Lord Rikudou did PM with some way to make it work if I do decide to go with it so thanks.**

 **Why Scathach and Raven? I like them it's that simple. Maybe I just have a thing for women with crimson eyes who knows.**

 **Good luck on FGO if your rolling for Avenger Edmond Dantes I'll probably use one or two tickets on him just because his art is the same as danganronpa.**

 **If anyone is interested for FGO NA my friend code is 509,111,751. With my support being Tamamo(L89) Mordred(L80) Waver(L80) Shiki(L70) Heracles(L80) who are only ones taking note of. I only have a few free spots left on my fiends list as well.**

 **Alright that's enough from me I think you will all agree so until next time see you.**


	4. C4 An Unexpected Surprise at the Party

**Author notes**

 **Hi, I'm finally back again with another chapter and wow it's really crazy this story has now reached 650 followers and over 100 reviews which it is just unbelievable to me for my first try at a story so thank you all!**

 **So, this one has taken me a while to do for different reasons such as I couldn't find the momentum to keep on writing at times and I could not seem to find myself satisfied with what I had already written. I even considered just giving up on this story but I didn't want it to die before it even had a chance. I kept seeing what I had written as too repetitive with the words I used or just not interesting to read. Maybe it was just me second guessing everything I did but I hope this chapter is at least okay with some of you.**

 **Some things to address again**

 **First is that yes, I messed up a bit in the last chapter when you guys pointed out about how Raven should not have broken Jaune's weapons so I'll own up to that. The only thing I can say is that it was my first real time writing a fight scene so I got so caught up on trying to make it exciting to read that I completely forgot that those type of swords should not break.**

 **Anyway, I don't want to keep going on in the beginning Notes that what the bottom ones are for. So big thanks to Grim of Brennus Hopes and** **AlucardTheDragonicGod** **for going over this chapter for me.**

 **In this chapter, it starts off before Jaune got to the part and so picks up from there and when he shows up. Sadly, there is no Jaune point of view on thing in this chapter it's more on some of his family and party guests. Plus, a thing of note is that this chapter is heavily inspired by the party scene from Fate Stay Arc so you will see similarities.**

 **Warning my spelling and grammar is possible bad**

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series**

* * *

0-0-0

 **Chapter 4 An unexpected surprise at the Party**

 **Town of Dragontail, Arc household**

It was another beautiful summer day in the town of Dragontail, there was not a cloud in the sky letting the sun shine down upon the nice large town.

Combat schools all over Remnant had let their students go home for a short two-week holiday letting them see their families and get a much-needed break from all the lessons and tests they had been forced to endure. The two-week long vacation had been exactly when Alexander Arc managed to secure himself some leisure time from his messy and demanding work schedule. With him wanting to be there at home when his kids got back from their schools to both welcome and surprise them.

The head of the Arc family had been so glad that he did because in doing so Alex had found out that his little girl Jeanne had shown such skill and promise that she been put forward for an early graduation.

At the age of sixteen a whole year ahead of the stranded time when everyone else graduated.

It was not uncommon for individuals in the combat schools or academies that displayed skill and worth beyond their peers to be pushed ahead. Age wasn't a huge factor for some people seeing it as if you had what it took to go out there and protected the kingdoms then it was fine by them. Of course, others would argue that the council should not be sending people of such a young age out to fight.

That was mostly spoken by concerned parents not wanting their children to get hurt which was something Alex himself could sympathize with since he was a father himself.

Now Alex would have had much preferred if Jeanne could have stayed at the school for her last year before she went off to pick her Academy like her sisters before her but the school had already had gone through with the transaction saying that Jeanne had nothing more to learn at their facility.

But just because they said she was ready did not mean Alex was going to allow his little girl to go off and fight out the in the big world just yet. No, he had made it clear that Jeanne would stay at home for next the year refining her craft so she would be more than prepared for what the harsh world throws at her. Jeanne will also be helping her younger sisters train and help where she could while Alex would be back out on his missions.

So, Jeanne won't be skipping ahead of the class. Alex would not have it. He didn't want this to be another Mordred incident.

Anyway, to celebrate his daughter's success and for being so proud of her Alex had decided to host a small party at the Arc household.

At least it was meant to be small as the veteran Huntsman turned his gaze to look out through the patio doors leading to the very spacious backyard and saw a fairly large gathering of party guests all mingling and having fun.

'Oops'

Alex chuckled to himself nervously while scratching the back of his head hoping that his wife wouldn't be upset with a large crowd of people in their backyard.

Thankfully June was somewhere else in the Arc household spending time catching up with Willow Schnee, the Schnee matriarch and wife married to the now current head of the Schnee dust company Jacques. who was thankfully too busy with running a company to attend the party much to Alex's relief.

It was no huge secret that Alex and Jacques didn't really get along and that they only tolerated each other out of courtesy but their wives on the other hand...

The two had both met at a social gathering in Atlas some years ago that Alex had been invited to and they had both become fast friends. A lot like how Arturia and Willow's eldest daughter had become close comrades with each other during their time at Atlas Academy.

So yeah it was a good thing June was busy at the moment or she would most likely have his hide for him turning their home into some kind of house party.

 _Ding_.

Hearing the sound of the doorbell going off broke Alex from thinking any more on the matter of his wife.

He gradually made his way to the front door to greet the newly arrived guests passing a variety of pictures hanging on the wall. Some showed off the Arc family throughout the years each one displaying a new blonde-haired member of the family, others depicted special events like his daughter's graduations or a young smiling Alex and June on their wedding day.

Opening the door Alex was immediately meet with some very familiar faces.

There at his front step was Ozpin the headmaster of Beacon and Glynda Goodwitch the deputy headmistress. Behind the two was Bartholomew Oobleck the history teacher at Beacon with the Grimm studies professor Peter Port by his side.

Smiling Alex welcomed them in with a wave of his hand. "Oz I'm glad you all could make it." With the Beacon staff making their way into the house, Alex did pleasantries with them all.

Looking first to the headmistress, "Glynda, it's good to see you again. You're looking very lovely today." He complemented his fellow blonde.

The woman only pushed up her glasses and spoke back to him in a strict tone. "Alex, still the charmer I see... but never the less it's good to see you in good health."

Alex needed to suppress a sigh of disappointment from that reply.

The woman was always so strict and proper about everything that he really thought Glynda needed to learn to relax at times and just loosen up. He took his eyes away from her and moved onto the tall green haired man nearby who was looking very fidgety at the moment.

'He probably did not have any of his daily caffeine yet.'

"I hope your fine today... Professor Oobleck?" He asked the man with a slight amount of concern.

The green haired man, eyes snapped to his with a frown setting in on his face all the while his hands were twitching.

"It's Doctor!" He shouted back while eyes twitched whether from annoyance or lack caffeine Alex honestly could not tell. "But never mind that do you have any coff-"

Cutting him off Alex already knew what the man was after "YES Doctor we have some coffee out back..." As soon as he was done saying that the hyperactive huntsman had sped off leaving a small dust trail in his wake as the man went out searching for his favorite beverage.

The rest of them just stood there in the hallway looking at where the green haired man had once been with nothing but the dust now in his place.

Alex just blinked once or twice before moving on to his next colleague he had yet to greet. Taking his hand up for a handshake as he spoke jokingly "Peter great to see that you're looking spry for a man your age."

The older man just laughed wholeheartedly and pulled the offered hand into a tight grip before shaking. "Nonsense lad! I'm as good as ever, this body might be old but my fighting spirit is eternal!"

Alex could only chuckle at that, knowing it was true as, no matter how many years had passed, the long-time huntsman still had a lot of energy in him.

The two were just laughing lightly in amusement as they kept the handshake going for few more seconds before finally ending it.

Putting his hands on his hips Port looked around. "Now where is this celebration at? I have so many of my glorious adventures to speak of it would be a shame if they went untold!"

With that said, the old Professor walked past them all, making his way to the party intent on "entertaining" everyone with his stories. Glynda just sighed shaking her head before informing Alex that she would keep an eye on the two professors making sure they would not ruin what was supposed to be a nice small get together.

The only people left in the hallway by the front door was now Alex and the headmaster himself.

Speaking of Ozpin, the man was sprouting a small pleasant smile as he watched Alex speak with his cane ready at the side. Now that they were left alone, the headmaster chose this moment to speak with his old friend.

"Well that was certainly interesting would you not agree, Alex?" The response he gave back to the man was just a dry look.

Alex's stare did not seem to do anything to the man as Ozpin just stood there still smiling at him before taking a sip from his coffee mug that the man always seemed to have with him.

"It's good to see you as well Ozpin I honestly assumed you would be unable to make it. Seeing as you are almost always held up back at Beacon these days."

Still drinking from his mug, the man just hummed back at Alex to that statement seeing as it was true. Ozpin had been spending more time at Beacon in the recent years not leaving the place all that often and that made Alex a bit suspicious.

Why was Ozpin here? There were a few ideas that came to Alex's mind as to why the Beacon headmaster had taken the time to come for his daughter's celebration.

"Well I have finally managed to get some free time so I thought I would drop by and enjoy myself." Ozpin calmly informed Alex and then sat his coffee mug down on a nearby table before reaching into his coat to bring out a bottle.

"Seeing as this is my first time ever visiting your home, I thought it would be a good idea to bring a small gift with me." Ozpin told the man of the household as he admired the bottle before handing it over to Alex.

Examining it, Alex raised an eyebrow as he read the label. It was a fifty-year-old bottle of wine from Vale, not something that was exactly cheap.

"I hope this is not some way to bribe me into allowing Jeanne into going to beacon academy Ozpin? Because I have already said that she won't be starting there until she is Seventeen." Alex told the headmaster sternly.

Ozpin gave an innocent smile, "Come now Alex your daughter has already proven herself to be more than ready just like her sisters before her. It's only one year ahead that Jeanne has skipped; she can handle it."

Sighing, Alex said with a hint of frustration, "It's not going to happen Oz and that's final. You might be used to getting your way with things but when it comes to my family I decide what goes on, not you. Jeanne will go to her academy of choice when she is of age."

This was something that could not be negotiated with Alex

Frowning for a split-second before it vanished and was replaced with a small smile, Ozpin could only say, "Well one couldn't help but at least try now could they"

The two friends made their way to the gathering outside in silence and while on his way it got the senior Arc thinking.

Alex now knew why Ozpin was here, it was to see if he could convince him to send Jeanne a year ahead to beacon but Alex had told the man before many times, that his daughter will only be going when she was seventeen just like her older sisters did in the past. It was one of the things Alex was always set on which was trying to follow tradition.

His first three kids had all gone to their academy at seventeen no younger and that was how Alex wanted it to be for Jeanne. But he guessed he couldn't blame Ozpin too much, the man always wanted all the best students for himself.

It must have frustrated the man knowing that all three of Alex's oldest children had not picked Beacon as their choice of school.

Olivia and Arturia had chosen to enrol at Atlas when they became of age. Oliver had graduated at age twenty while at the top of her class and when Arturia had gone to Atlas following behind Olivia she too had left at the top her class as well as winning the Vytal Festival when she participated.

Thankfully, neither of them had been drafted into the Atlesian military and were now just full-time Huntresses.

Alex couldn't have been anymore prouder of both of them for living up to the Arc name even if he tried.

Then... there was Mordred

Alex had to suppress another sigh just thinking about his third eldest.

He and Mordred had not seen eye to eye on a lot of things, with Alex wanting her to follow and stick to the family's traditions. Whereas Mordred wanted to be free and do as she pleased which seemed to be breaking some of those traditions.

It had not started off so bad, to begin with, Mordred had just wanted to go to Shade Academy most likely to avoid going to the same School with Arturia and he had no issue with that, his children were free to choose which Academy they wanted to enroll in. But more things started to occur, with Alex and June getting calls from the head saying that their daughter was constantly getting into fights with other students and skipping classes.

Alex had been very disappointed with Mordred's behavior finding it that brought shame on the family and June felt sad as well as disappointed at her daughter but to a much lesser extent.

The only reason Mordred had not been expelled was probably because of her immensely high combat scores and the fact she had won the school second place in the Vytal festival. The one thing that had gotten most of Alex's disapproval on Mordred's recently was that his daughter had dropped out of the Academy.

Well...

He said dropped out but in actuality, Mordred had been offered a one-year early graduation kind of like Jeanne but this was most likely by the school's head to just get rid of her and to not deal with all the trouble his daughter caused.

Mordred had taken the offer without hesitation saying she felt like she was not getting any stronger and that school was not pushing her hard enough.

So, Mordred had graduated at the age of nineteen completely skipping her one last year of education which had led the both of them having an argument with Alex not agreeing with what she just did and broke part of the family tradition by not fully completing her education to be a Huntress. While Mordred had shouted back at him saying he had no right deciding what she could do with her life.

It might have gotten out of hand if June had not put a stop to both of them with her not wanting her family to be at odds with one another. Alex had backed down since when it came to this sort of thing his wife was the one in charge and Alex would not dare fight her on it.

So yeah, Alex's three oldest children have shown themselves to quite the prodigies with two of them finishing at the top of their class and one graduated a whole year ahead so it came as no surprise that people were trying to get Jeanne to pick their schools to enrol into next.

That's what Alex bet Ozpin was also here for because if the man could not convince him to let Jeanne go a year early than the silver-haired old man would do his damnedest to make a good impression today to influence his daughter into picking Beacon.

Silently talking to himself Alex shook his head. 'it's really not easy being an Arc'

To the masses, it would look like the Arc family was some kind of poster image for Hunters everywhere with so many of them excelling in the profession and a few may even call them the perfect family of Huntsman and Huntresses.

Alex wanted to scoff when he heard that one.

The Arc family was not some perfect happy little family.

It was a normal family with its own problems and issues just like any other. An example being the fact that because of Alex being so close to Ozpin it had set him up for going on long and dangerous missions which meant that his wife had to stay at home alone to look after the kids.

All the while June had to just wait until he got back not knowing if her husband would ever make it home alive or in a box.

Alex hated himself because he could not always be there for his family and him being absent a lot meant that he missed a birthday once or twice or one of his daughter's graduations. Another issue that was going on in the family right now was the tension between Mordred and him which did not look to be getting any better any time soon.

Then... there was the subject of his son

"Alex are you alright?"

"Huh?" He responded not paying attention to what was going on so Alex looked up to see Ozpin giving a slightly concerned look in front of the door leading to the backyard.

"You looked unsettled there for a moment... if it's about what I said about Jeanne I didn't mean any harm by it I promise to respect your decision and leave it at that." The headmaster informed one of his old friends believing he had upset Alex about the subject of his daughter's education earlier.

Getting his senses back Alex shook his head side to side burying the unpleasant thoughts and put on a fake smile to show to Ozpin.

"No... everything is fine" He spoke before stopping few brief moments to think and then went on. "Come on let me show you to the party."

They left the house and entered the backyard hearing the music playing with the sounds of people laughing and having fun reach their ears. Alex went to try and enjoy himself not wanting to get depressed today of all days.

This was supposed to be a celebration after all.

* * *

When Glynda had stepped into the backyard to keep an eye on both Peter and Bart, she quickly found out that the task was easier said than done. She had been met with a huge group of people everywhere which made finding someone quite the challenge.

All around there were tables set up with food and drinks for everyone to try as they all talked and chatted with one another.

Not seeing her two colleagues, Glynda made her way deeper into the crowd of guests looking left and right for any sign of them. She must have gone on for at least five minutes before Glynda just gave up and sighed to herself.

She had been told by Ozpin that Alex said he was supposed to be having a small celebration but it seemed that it had not gone as planned. It didn't come too much as a surprise to Glynda that the Arc family was well known and it was currently made up of ten members which meant that if everyone in the family invited a few friends then before you knew it things would get blown out of proportion.

There truly were a lot of people here and Glynda would admit it freely that this was not her type of scene. She would much prefer to be relaxing at home with a good book or a nice relieving bath.

She saw Ozpin and Alex leave the house and enter the backyard not too long after her but Alex looked to be straining a smile.

'That's odd' She told herself as she watched the two of them walk over to some old school buddies of Alex. Glynda was now wondering what had been said after she had left for Alex to not be his joyful self.

'Did Ozpin say something to upset him?' She found that hard to believe the two men had been close ever since Alex had graduated from Beacon. They were always speaking of things that even she was not privy to knowing even if she was one of the few within Ozpin's circle. Hell, the only person that might be even more tightly knitted with Ozpin was Qrow himself and that was because the drunk was his right-hand man.

Forgetting about all that and moving on Glynda supposed that if she was going to stay here in this party she might as well as make it somewhat enjoyable. So, looking around to see if she could find anyone that would make for a good conversationalist.

It was much harder then she thought.

There were only a few people she recognised and there were people she really didn't want to socialise with. She also did spot one or two of Alex's daughters when she scouted around. In the far-off corner almost hidden from viewing was a blonde girl in her late teens or early twenties covered in a monstrous amount of steel armor that protected her body only leaving her head exposed. The girl had the Arc golden blonde hair in a ponytail and a pair of emerald eyes was looking to be showboating off to some other Hunters.

Glynda was not familiar with this member of the Arc family but she could guess that the girl was a younger sister of Arturia given how they looked near identical when it came to the face. The other child of Alex was one Glynda was much more familiar with which was Olivia Arc who looked to be at this moment in time turning down someone who attempted at hitting on her.

Glynda would have most likely gone to Olivia for a decent conversation if not for the voice that stopped her before she could.

"Miss Goodwitch? What a surprise to see you here of all places." Glynda pivoted around to come face to face with a woman in an Atlas uniform with a brief spark of shock on her face.

Glynda wanted to sigh was it really such a shock for her to be at a party? "Hello to you as well Winter."

It didn't at all surprise Glynda that Winter was here at the celebration she was good friends with Arturia Arc after all.

Winter had regained her composure very quickly as she coughed into her fist. "Yes...hello good to see you as well..." She hesitated slightly before going on.

"It's just the last time I saw you, was at Beacon when General Ironwood had a meeting set up with professor Ozpin before I was... dismissed and well... a party was the last place I thought I would meet you again."

The deputy headmistress was able to pick up a hint of anger, when it came to the part of the Schnee's dismissal. It probably had to do with things being kept from her when Winter was sent away from those meetings but it had to be done there was no way to tell if Winter could be trusted. So, James needed her gone when he and the rest of them needed to report back to Ozpin.

Ignoring the bit of hostility Glynda simple spoke back. "While I will admit that a party is not at the top of my list of things that I would want to be doing right now, it doesn't mean I have anything against these social gatherings."

Winter only raised an eyebrow at spoke back in a smooth voice "I was not trying to suggest such a thing only that you might just be here to...watch over things for Ozpin instead of to enjoy yourself."

Glynda could feel her eye twitch at that comment but she kept herself calm. "What do you mean by watch over 'things'?"

The only response Winter gave back was a tilt of her head to the left of her. Following the direction Glynda's gaze soon came upon something she wishes she hadn't. There across from them was Oobleck zipping around with two cups of coffee in his hands as he sped around the place while somehow drinking both of them simultaneously.

Then next to the green haired blur was Port laughing with a drink in his right hand that Glynda was really hoping was not alcoholic.

No one wanted to hear one of Port's stories especially if he's drunk.

"And then I wrapped my arms around the Ursa and shouted at the top my lungs 'have at you foul beast!' while I suplexed it!" Port finished telling one of his tales and started to laugh hysterically.

'It's already too late, he's wasted... why would Alex even allow alcohol to be served at a celebration for his daughter in the first place!' Glynda screamed internally to herself as she began to rub her brow in frustration.

It did not help the fact that she could feel Winter enjoying every moment of this as the woman currently was giving her a smug smile.

Today was really not her day.

* * *

For the people at the party who weren't with Glynda, everything was going pretty well, the weather was nice, the food and drinks were enjoyable while the music was entertaining.

Olivia Arc would even be tempted to say that she was having fun visiting her family home again after so long and was happy on getting to congratulate her baby sister Jeanne on her recent achievements as well as speaking with all her sisters.

Nowadays Olivia didn't have any chance to visit her family at home that much, not after she had moved out of the Arc household two years ago. She had been twenty-three at the time and being the oldest, Olivia had wanted to have a place of her own where she wouldn't have to share a fridge with ten other damn people.

So with the money she saved up from working as a Huntress for three years after graduating from Atlas, The oldest child of Alex and June Arc had finally decided to fly out of the nest, as the saying goes and bought a nice little place on the island of Patch in Vale. Leaving the home she had grown up in wasn't easy, but Olivia didn't want to live with her parents for the rest of her life.

So after looking around for a bit, Olivia had ended up, on impulse, buying a place in Patch. Her parents had said she shouldn't have purchased the first property that stood out to her, but oh well she had wanted to live near the big city of Vale for a while now and being in Patch meant that Olivia was only a small journey away from the city and would not have to deal with all the hustle and bustle of living in a city. She also had the option, if it ever appealed to Olivia, of teaching at Signal since they were hiring and always on the hunt for new teachers.

So yeah back on topic, Olivia didn't get to see her family too much nowadays with living her own life as well as being a full-time Huntress meant she had little time to just come over and give a simple hello and chit chat.

The eldest daughter of the Arc family was going to get the most out of this little party by spending time with her family and enjoying herself... or at least she would have if there had been some way to put a stop to the number of people hitting on her at this party.

It wasn't so bad at the beginning but after the third or fourth guy that had tried to talk her up, Olivia was having to now keep herself in check as to not ruin her sister's party by castrating someone.

Was it too much to ask that Olivia could just spend time with family without people coming up to her and wanting to court her?

Olivia wasn't a vain person that was obsessed with their own appearance but she had been told by many that she had features which members of the opposite sex would find desirable. Now at the age of twenty-five, she had the trademark Arc blonde hair that went down her back stopping at the waist which seemed to have a golden glow to it. An hour-glass figure that, while slender, was still rather muscular from her years of training and she was fairly gifted in the chested area...

But sadly, nowhere near as much as her younger sister Arturia.

Just thinking about that made Olivia's eyebrow twitch uncontrollably. Like she said, she wasn't a vain person but it hurt her pride a bit and all the other girls in the Arc family as well, that Arturia's chest had suddenly grown very large very fast as the girl went into her twenties.

'I mean come on! How is that even possible she was flat as a board in her teens then out of nowhere the girl went up to like a D cup!' Olivia was crying internally to herself.

No one in the family knew how Arturia had gotten so blessed with her assets and the girl herself had said it had happened naturally in a slightly smug way much to the ire of Olivia and her sister as well as their mother securely.

Not that their mum would ever admit such a thing.

Olivia was contempt to keep going on silently cursing her younger sibling for her blessings if not for the fact that someone called out her name from behind her.

"Olivia" The deep sound of the voice already told her that the person speaking to her was male and Olivia could only roll her eyes with a sigh as she mentally prepared herself for yet another guy to attempt to woo her.

"Yes?" Spinning around at the heels of her feet Olivia came face to face with a pair of sapphire blue eyes that were shockingly strikingly similar to her own. Quickly looking up and down at the person in front of her, he was wearing some kind of black tight sleeveless shirt with steel plated boots and a red tattered cape on his waist that was moving back and forth from the gentle breezes in the wind that passed by.

The whole outfit itself just screamed Huntsman to Olivia making her believe that maybe one of them at the party had come to try their luck with her, at least the guy was fairly attractive.

That whole thought pretty much died as soon as it was conceived when her eye took in the man's face in more detail instead of the brief glance she had given it.

He looked like a younger version of her father!

Same facial features.

Same deep blue eyes.

Same kind of hairstyle and hell if not for the white patch at the front it would be the exact same type of golden colored blonde.

'He looks almost like-' Her mind instantly screeched to a halt as Olivia finally realised who she was talking to.

And she was ashamed it took her this long for her mind to work it out. Sure, to the rest of the world it had just taken a few more seconds nearing a minute but to Olivia, it might as well as been eternity for how long it had taken her to recognise her own baby brother!

Olivia's eye popped as she exclaimed "Jaune!"

Her shouting his name must have taken him by surprise as her brother recoiled from her shout with also gaining the attention from a few other part guests with them sending side glances there way but Olivia had other issues to deal with than worry about some strangers.

Like the fact with what the heck was going on with her little brother who was now wincing his eyes and looking at anything but her.

"Err...yeah that's me, jeez no need to yell when I'm right in front of you." He groaned out

Olivia didn't really pay any mind to what he said as her brain was trying to work everything out and ask questions to help fill the many holes that were desperately needed filling. Of course, she didn't have the patience for any of that and just blurted out "You've gotten tall?"

Jaune just raised an eyebrow at her as if to say "really?" and Olivia was starting to cringe on the inside.

Out of all the things she wanted to ask, she went with his height.

She didn't ask about the outfit, the hair or even the freaking muscles, no, she had to ask about the fact that her baby brother was now taller than her. Olivia knew that her younger siblings would be different when she came to meet them again and with her living on her own, partnered with being a Huntress, she knew that all her siblings would be growing up as well but she would think someone would have told her about the changes with Jaune.

'I mean all the time I called mom when she was at home and I asked if there was anything interesting going on, you would think that she would have at least maybe mention Jaune getting fucking ripped!'

Since when was Jaune this muscular and in shape! Oh no... did she just check out her own brother!?

Sadly, Olivia wasn't allowed time to keep ranting to herself with Jaune finally speaking back after what was for him a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Yeah, I guess I have gotten taller? That tends to happen when you know... grow up." Jaune told her flatly as he started to shift his body slightly like he was uncomfortable.

Olivia had no clue why he would be uncomfortable but she had too much on her mind right now to given thoughts on the matters. She needed to try and figure out what was going on with her brother and so she started rapidly firing questions at him.

"Where have you been? Why are you wearing a Huntsman outfit? What's going on with your ha-"

Before she could keep asking her spitfire of questions at him, Jaune raised his hands and spoke to her in slightly agitated and demanding voice. "Can you stop with all the questioning, please. I just got back from my trip and I only came by to ask you what this party is all about."

"…"

Silence.

"...well err... this whole celebration is kind of in Jeanne's honour, I guess with her graduating from combat School a year early. You...didn't know about this?" Olivia hesitantly explained to him still trying to get over the small shock of how Jaune just acted.

For a long time, Olivia would always remember her baby brother being the much more quiet and soft-spoken of her siblings when she saw them. When she came to Arc household be it back from Atlas or visiting from Patch Jaune would always give a small smile with a quick hello and goodbye before he either disappear into his room or go off to his apprenticeship.

In recent years their mom had become slightly concerned about Jaune, with how withdrawn he seemed to be getting. Mostly everyone was hoping that it would turn out to be some kind of moody teenage phase.

Currently though, Olivia was seeing Jaune in very different light for the first time with how he was presenting himself in front of her.

Right now, her brother appeared to be in distressed and awkward about his surroundings. He also seemed to be almost in a rush like he wanted to get away from this party as soon as possible.

"Oh," Jaune said after finally finding out what the big celebration was for before looking awkward and started shifting his feet about. "Well...that's great I guess. Good for Jeanne err... umm I'm going to head upstairs, I really need to take a shower."

Jaune turned away from Olivia and slowly walked to the house.

Seeing her little brother walk away Olivia reacted instinctively her hands shot out grabbing Jaune's left arm. When she made contact his whole body went rigid and stiffened up like a statue.

"Wait!" Olivia shouted out to him sounding almost desperate for not wanting to see her brother just walk away just yet when she still needed answers about so many things.

Jaune very slowly almost robotically twisted his body around to face his older sister again looking at her questioningly "Hmm"

Opening her mouth Olivia didn't even get to make a sound before a loud and clear voice reached them.

"Jaune!"

* * *

Alex had to admit that he had really outdone himself this time. The party was in full swing and everyone was having fun, most of his daughters were about somewhere enjoying themselves with their friends, hell even Mordred had a smile etched on her face as she impressed her old classmates with her skills showing off how she earned that early graduation.

He swore to himself that his rebellious daughter's confidence and prideful attitude was bordering on arrogance at times but oh well, she would grow out of it and if not, she would have to learn the hard way that pure strength can only get you so far in this world.

But yeah, Alex would call this party a success, he had managed to pull himself out of his little rut and was now laughing and joking with some old school friends of his, as they watched as a drunk Port attempted to recreate the finishing move that he claimed to had once used on an Ursa, and was using Oobleck to demonstrate how it worked. The little show between the two Professors got a good laugh out of everyone... well except Glynda who looked close to be blowing a gasket at the two.

Ozpin was even enjoying himself meeting up with old students that had once attended Beacon.

Alex was tempted to pat himself on the back for a job well done.

Looking around the party once more he spotted a few people snickering and looking at someone that Alex couldn't make out with the crowd being so dense. The only things he could see in the gaps between the crowd was that the person was a man and he appeared to be dressed with a tattered red cloak on waist who looked to be talking to his eldest daughter Olivia.

That sort of explained why the people were snickering at least.

They were most liking waiting to see his daughter turn down and humiliate another wannabe guy who wanted to hit on her. Alex didn't see a problem with it, Olivia could more than handle herself, the same goes for the rest of his older daughters.

Although Alex was wondering who the person was since they seemed to be clad in a hunter's outfit.

For a second with the red tattered cloak Alex thought that Qrow had somehow gotten into the party, but that was impossible, the man was in Patch visiting his nieces for the week.

Good thing as well because if Qrow was the one hitting on his daughter, Alex would have made it so the man would never walk again or use anything related to the lower half of his body again when he would be done with him.

About to turn back around and get back to mingling, but before he could, a few people moved to go and sit on a nearby table which ended up giving Alex the clear view he needed to see the man talking to Olivia.

And Alex had blink a few times to see if his eyes were failing him.

Because right now, they were seeing his only son Jaune, who was standing out like a sore thumb thanks to the eye-catching garb.

"Jaune?!"

He shouted questioningly, without even thinking, he began to make his way over to his son and Olivia. Too busy concentrated on getting over to them Alex hadn't noticed that his act had drawn the eyes of many from the celebration.

Finally coming up towards his son Alex could only stare at Jaune.

His blue eyes took everything in since it had been quite a while when he had last seen his son.

As said before because of Alex's duties as a full-time Huntsman working under Ozpin, Alex had very little time to be at home and when he was, it usually involved him helping his daughters with their training getting them ready to become Huntress.

The last time he had been at home was a few months ago, helping out Lily and Lucy and apparently back then, according to his wife, Jaune had been on some type of excursion so because of that, Alex didn't see his son that time.

A few years ago, his son decided to take up the craft of making weapons in blacksmithing which had come as big surprise to everyone in the family, but Alex had been secretly glad that his son had found a different path to pursue in life after Jaune, for so long in his childhood, has wanted to be Huntsman like him and the rest of the family. Sadly, his son had shown no such skill in the profession much to Alex's dismay but he'll rather, in the end, have his son safe doing a less respectable occupation than end up dying out there all for nothing because of his son being too stubborn, not willing to accept his own limitations.

Not to mention that Jaune still had a big responsibility on his shoulders to stay alive for. With him being Alex's only son in the Arc family, it meant it fell on to Jaune to carry on the Arc legacy, traditions and name when his sisters all married.

Alex was kind of ashamed to admit that when it came to the subject of his son, that it was not a great one.

He was not blind, he could tell him and Jaune should be much closer than they were, but with how everything was with having eight kids and working as a Huntsman made it very hard to make sure that all his children got equal attention.

It especially didn't help that his son was coincidentally always away when Alex was home from work nowadays.

It did strike Alex a bit odd that Jaune would be away so much from home for just learning how to make weapons but he guessed that Jaune's teacher was a bit of a slave driver. Although Alex still had yet to meet the man that was allowing his son to learn from him.

Alex had been too busy to ask for a meet up with the man. All Alex know about Jaune's teacher was the few words that his son had used to describe him which were either "Asshole" or "Old bastard".

Looking at his son now though.

Suspicion, as well as questions, started to set into his mind. Since when had Jaune been in such good shape and what was up with his hair being white as snow?

June had said in passing about something to him about Jaune's hair changing color, but he just assumed that she meant that his son had dyed his hair or something along those lines.

But only Jaune's bangs were different and the rest of his hair looked blonde like the usual Arc's hair color that they were known for. Also, if you were going to dye your hair why do in such a way that made look like you were going grey with age?

'What was going on?'

Alex was having a hard time getting a read on his son with the way too many things were screaming out at him. Jaune's build, his outfit, the hair and then there was the way with how Jaune was presenting himself.

Something was obviously not right here.

It seemed like his son was trying to give nothing away but at the same time, it was obvious that the young male Arc was uncomfortable as more and more attention was being drawn to him.

"Dad? You there?" He heard the voice of Olivia calling out him. Alex blinked realising that he had just been standing still staring at his son for some time now.

"What? Oh, err... yes, I'm fine, just spaced out there for a second." The head of the Arc family could hear some of the partygoers hiding their laughter from his flimsy and swift recovery.

"So, um... Jaune, son your back from you're err little trip huh... well umm how was your day?" Well, that could have most certainly had been executed better.

Confusion flashed across Jaune's face before it settled into a small frown. "It's been alright I suppose..." His son paused before continuing on "I only just got back and was about to take a shower."

Back? Where had his son gone to again Alex didn't know of?

"Where did you get back from anyway? I didn't know you were gonna be gone again when I got back a week ago." Alex inquired

"I told mom in a message I was going to be on another trip that had me leaving town for a while didn't she tell you?"

Yes, Alex's wife had told him that Jaune had again been out another trip but she had no details on what his son's trip entailed.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at his son and his outfit. Alex spoke once again slowly. "Yes, your mother did say you were out on a... trip but she couldn't say where your destination was because you never give one in your message."

Alex's blue orbs scanned Jaune from head to toe. "So that doesn't answer where you were... or explain why you are wearing a Huntsman attire."

Olivia suddenly spoke up again "That's what I was trying to find out about before you came over dad."

Before Jaune was able to open his mouth, a slightly drunk voice that Alex recognised as Port came barging in.

"Because the boy is a Huntsman Alex!" Port shouted to them as the man stumbled towards them somehow gathering even more attention.

Alex could only watch on as the Port came over and then preceded to throw his left arm around his son's shoulder pulling Jaune into a very awkward looking type of side hug. All the while for Jaune was attempting to discreetly escape the larger man's hold on him with little to no success.

"But he isn't-" He tried to explain that his son was in no way a Huntsman but Port decided to talk over Alex and kept on exclaiming while in his drunk state.

"I mean just look at the lad! Those muscles are that of a true adventuring warrior!" Port looked over at the fidgeting boy in his grip and used his right hand to feel Jaune's biceps. "What strong arms the kid has Alex! What is your weapon of choice lad? Is it a Sword, Spear, or are you an Axeman like myself hahaha!"

Jaune was looking at the laughing mustache man like he was crazy "Err...who are you?"

As Alex saw Port laughing and feeling up his son's biceps while possible traumatizing Jaune in the process he was really now regretting agreeing on serving alcohol to the adult party guests.

'That's the last time I listen to Qrow on how to make a good party entertaining' He told himself.

Suddenly coming back to reality Alex tensed up and interrupted the laughing professor. "Go home port, your drunk."

Now looking towards his son with an intense stare "Jaune... I need to know why you have that outfit on."

Looking right back at him, Jaune answered with a bit hesitation "My normal clothes got... damaged on the trip so... this was a gift from someone..."

"Oh, okay so they just gave something to wear while you went home and changed, that makes sense." Alex relaxed letting the tension leave him.

His son's gaze narrowed into slits at that and Alex could have sworn he saw an inferno light up in those sapphire eyes of Jaune's. "NO, the clothes were a gift, but they belong to me."

'What?' Now Alex was confused.

He was unable to continue his line of question because of smooth voice that Alex immediately recognised as Ozpin spoke up behind him.

"Say Alex I had no idea that your son too was training to become a Huntsman why not let him and Jeanne give us a demonstration of their skill?"

* * *

Ozpin the mysterious headmaster of Beacon academy the man who influenced all the academies and help build some. He had connections with the vale city council and with one of the highest-ranking general's in the Atlas military.

All in all, he was a man of great importance more than most people would ever know.

Only a very few selected people that Ozpin himself had trusted which had not been many knew that Ozpin himself had been around for a long time longer maybe anyone else alive on Remnant.

How long you ask? How many years has the man known as Ozpin lived through?

Hundreds of years?

A thousand?

Maybe even a millennium.

Truth be told even Ozpin himself didn't know how long it had been since the day he had been cursed to keep on living.

He couldn't even recall his own true origins.

Oh, there were bit and pieces but as the years went on it only kept growing increasingly harder for Ozpin to tell the difference between his original self and the countless other souls that he had been forced to merge with within every reincarnation he had taken.

The small things he could recall was that...

A being?

A god?

An entity or something of immense power had given him his abilities and cursed him at the same time. For what else could you call it where you had to spend an eternity of never dying and be forced to watch as everyone around you withered away. Ozpin could remember giving away huge portions of his power to four individuals that would later become the story of the four maidens known today. He also knew that he always had felt a strong urge to stop the Queen no matter what and secure mankind's survival.

But they were really the only things of significance that Ozpin can recall from his early life nothing more. He couldn't even recall his real name and had just settled on the title of Ozpin.

A person who would live throughout history in one form or another.

Anyway, with Ozpin being around for so long he had come to be able to almost analyse a person's capabilities as soon as he saw them. Almost like a sixth sense if you will.

He was saying this because when Alex had shouted out his son's name for all to hear Ozpin had looked to see what all the commotion was about. When Ozpin had got a good look at Jaune Arc it had sent so many alarm bells ringing off in his head that he unconsciously strained his grip on his coffee mug handle.

There many things thing that were not right about the young Jaune Arc.

His stance for instance while the boy did look nervous, his stance told Ozpin that Jaune was more than ready if something were to happen. It was like the boy expected to be attacked, almost like he always had his guard up not wanting to give away any weaknesses.

Ozpin could easily tell the boy was trained in combat, you don't get a build like that without strict training but he was having trouble actually pinpointing where Jaune fell when it comes down to skill and power.

All of this was making Ozpin's senses scream at him that Jaune was dangerous but there was one more thing that Ozpin was picking up from within the boy but he could not for the life of him make it out.

Maybe he really had grown weaker in all these years his senses had dulled but Ozpin knew he needed to find out what it was that had made Jaune Arc put him so on edge.

If he remembered right Jaune was the twin brother of Jeanne so he was only sixteen years old and he did not ever recall Alex speak of his son's training to become a Huntsman. Then why was the boy clearly dressed as one? There was also the fact he didn't have any sort of weapon on him, and all huntsman carried a weapon so where was it?

All of this was starting to pile up more questions in his head.

What were Jaune's capabilities?

What weapon did he specialize with?

What was it that had Ozpin feeling that there was something definitely off about Jaune Arc?

He needed to do something.

Make a scenario that would make Jaune show off what he was capable of and would satisfy his own curiosity about the young man.

The answer that Ozpin had quickly came up with was a simple one.

A fight.

It shouldn't be too hard to get one set up, this party was filled with people related in some way to Huntsman and Huntress so he could set it as a show of skill as well as entertainment for the guests. Now all that was needed was for a person to have Jaune fight against and the stage could be set.

Looking around, Ozpin was finding it hard to find a picking to use. His brown eyes saw Winter Schnee next to Gylnda.

No, he couldn't have the boy fight a fully fledge Huntress who was also a high-ranking officer in the Atlas military, if Ozpin even suggested such a thing everyone would think he was trying to have the boy meet his end by Winter's saber.

'Oh, if only she brought her younger sister to this event, Weiss and Jaune were the same age, that would have played out well to manipulate the two into a dual.' The headmaster wished that the younger Schnee could be here but than a more obvious solution hit him.

Looking around again Ozpin found the one who he was looking for.

Jeanne Arc had appeared just a few moments ago. The young girl was wearing a white shirt with a black skirt looking very angelic to those who saw her.

Ozpin had seen the girl's face brighten up significantly at seeing her brother before it went into confusion.

She was perfect since the two were both twins meaning that everyone would want to see which sibling was the better in a show of skill.

Especially with people not having a clue that Alex's son was training to become a Huntsman so of course, they would want to see what the son of the famous Alexander Arc could do. Ozpin could already see many people examining Jaune with curiosity.

Clearing his throat Ozpin spoke up. "Say, Alex, I had no idea that your son too was training to become a Huntsman, why not him and Jeanne give us a demonstration of their skill?"

The results were what Ozpin had anticipated with people from the crowd murmuring such things as "Hell yeah! I want to see two Arc's go at each other!"

"Yeah, I haven't seen two of Alex's kids fight since that time Arturia and Mordred destroyed that arena ages ago."

"I would also like to see what the only son of Alex is capable of."

The only thing Ozpin had not foreseen was how Jeanne would react to his announcement. The young girl's face morphed into one of horror at the idea of fighting her twin. Which Ozpin found odd why would she be scared of sparing with her brother for?

Alex had paled at the headmaster's proposal as his face was set in shock and suddenly exclaimed. "What hell are you talking about Ozpin!? They can't fight each other!"

"Oh, come on now Alex I just thought that this party would be a great chance to showcase some more up and coming promising prodigies of the Arc family." He smoothly replied back before taking a quick sip from his mug.

"Umm..." Everyone looked to see Jeanne standing near the crowd shyly looking away as she spoke timidly. "I don't really want to fight, I err mean... I just want to umm spend the day having fun and not sparing."

"Oh, come on now you two, there is no need to be shy! I mean in my youth me and my siblings were always sparing with each other! It helps build character-! What Glynda! What are you doing!? Ow! Stop pulling o- Ow! My moustach- OW! that hurts!" Port was unable to say anymore as the deputy of Beacon came out and started dragging the man away by his facial hair.

Jaune looked at everyone "I don't want to fight either I just got home and I want to-"

"Oh, come, kid, everyone wants to see what the son of Alex can do this is your chance to show off right here." Someone nearby voiced out making Jaune have a conflicted look about the prospect of a spar taking place, no less with his twin sister of all people.

Alex having enough of this turned to Ozpin "Look Oz, Jaune in no way, can fight Jeanne."

Of course, because of Alex now facing Ozpin, it meant that he had his back to his son so the man didn't get to witness Jaune gaining a harsh frown as he said that.

Unaware of all that, Alex continued speaking to Ozpin "Besides Jeanne said she didn't wish to fight either, so there is no one... suitable enough to spar with."

Alex was now looking relieved with coming up with that flimsy excuse, while Ozpin was hiding his disappointment.

"Oi if you lot are looking for someone to fight then I'll do it, I've been itching to let loose ever since this party started." The two men as well as everyone else to turned their gaze to find...

Mordred Arc walking over.

"Mordred..." Alex called out to his daughter very sternly and narrowed his eyes already not liking where this was going. "What are you doing?"

Mordred appeared to not notice how her father had spoken or she just did not care as she went and made her way to her brother's side.

Gazing off to the side at her father "I heard you lot speaking about spar and I was thinking that sounds like fun so I want in."

"Mordred both Jeanne and Jaune had both said that they both aren't interested in a dual so there is not going to be any spar okay?" Alex spoke slowly as if to get across that he really didn't want Mordred to push on the matter any further.

"I don't know..." Mordred tailed off before looking at Jaune who had not moved since this whole thing had started and gave him feral smirk. "What do you say, Little bro? You think you're up for a quick spar or do you just want to...do as father says and walk away?" She whispered the last part so only Jaune would hear it.

Everyone could clearly see Jaune had frown at whatever it was that Mordred had said to him. Alex was silently cursing to himself. Mordred always had a way of getting under someone's skin and getting them riled up enough to fight her.

With all eyes on Jaune, he growled out "Fine let's make this quick and get it over with."

Alex dropped his head in defeat knowing that it be very hard to stop the fight now without questions being asked so he was now going to have to watch his son possibly get humiliated. Maybe he could talk to Mordred before the spar into going easy on her brother since Mordred was known for being very brutal when it came to a fight.

Ozpin was glad that he was going to get a chance to view the young man's capabilities even if it was not the fight he was hoping for it shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

And so, everyone made their way to view at the sidelines as the two combatants stood opposite of each other on the big field behind the Arc household.

* * *

Glynda had somehow ended up as the judge for the showdown that was about to commence between Alex's son and daughter. She would like to know why the hell Ozpin was having her referee on what was meant to be a day off for her.

'So much for enjoying myself at a nice party.'

"Are the two combatants ready?" Glynda asked

The Arc's nodded their heads not saying a single thing.

"Then begin!" She declared

Giving off a toothy smirk that showed off her sharp canines, Mordred shouted "Good luck little bro, I'll try to take it easy on ya!" Then Mordred's armor shifted around with different mechanisms going off and before anyone knew it Mordred's face was now behind a menacing looking helmet.

Jaune didn't say anything only stood still unmoving, blocking out the rest of the world.

Alex and Ozpin stood by with the rest of the party goers at safe distance away from the fight. Both of their attention was entirely focused on the young man.

One out of worry for his son's safety, the other to figure out the mystery surrounding him.

Everyone could see that Mordred had taken up a very lax stance with her great sword. Ozpin noted that he saw Jaune look at his sister's stance in confusion then that look went into a frown before finally setting on emotionless.

Now that was certainly wasn't a look you would see normally on a sixteen-year olds face. No, it was a look much more suited for a person who had been forced do some harsh things in life, not on a boy who spent his entire life in the safety of a well-protected town.

It almost reminded Ozpin of when he had first met the Branwen twins.

Things just kept getting stranger when it came to Alex's son and it wasn't about to stop anytime soon, oh no everyone was in for an interesting ride.

It started off when Ozpin could almost feel something he didn't know what, build up from within the boy like a door had opened up allowing what it contained to slowly seep out and build up exponentially within him.

The headmaster immediately attempted to peer into the build-up coming from within Jaune.

But then...

Jaune's lips moved silently

"…"

Then the boy moved

 _BOOM!_

Ozpin like many were left stunned as a loud bang ringed out hurting their ears. Anyone looking where Jaune had once been could only find nothing but an upturned dust cloud.

'What!'

Everyone snapped their heads across to the other side of the field just in time to see Jaune in front of his sister as said girl was clearly caught off guard from the speed by how desperately Mordred attempted to put up a flimsy defense up in time.

Fast!

That was the simplest word to describe Jaune just now.

The boy had accelerated himself forward at such a distance in such little time that it would put some speed semblances to shame. To nearly everyone, it was like Jaune had teleported with a loud bang and to a few other he was little more than a blur when he moved.

And now he was right in front of his sister going in to strike with a war hammer.

 _CLANG_

'Wait what? Where did he get that weapon from?' Ozpin searched as to where Jaune could have pulled the war hammer out from, but he came up empty-handed. There didn't seem to be anywhere for the young man to conceal such a big weapon.

So how was it that he had a huge mighty hammer in the first place?

Mordred's slow reaction time coupled with the basic stance at the start had cost her dearly.

Taking a heavy blow from the blunt weapon to her left shoulder, the attack had been so powerful that it pushed her back several feet only stopping by digging her boots in the dirt.

The crowd could only behold the damage done by that single attack, and it had left a large ugly dent on the once flawless shiny armored plates.

While Mordred and everyone else was still taking in what had just happened, It would seem that Jaune had no intention of stopping there as he used his superior speed again to get behind his sister and...

 _CLANG_

Delivering another successful hit to her back, sending Mordred tumbling forward only managing to prevent herself from falling over by stabbing the ground with her great sword holding onto for dear life.

It didn't take a genius to work out that Mordred must not have been pleased with her brother getting the first hit on her, it was well known about how prideful the third daughter of Alex could be. That theory was proved even further by the girl tightly gripping her sword and the animalistic growl she gave off scaring even few in the audience.

Mordred then threw herself in a reckless charge at her brother fuelled by anger.

 _CLANG THUNK CLANG_

The crowd watched on the two danced around each other at insane speeds with spark flying left and right when their weapons clashed for dominance.

'It's looking like the fight was much more difficult than Mordred had expected' Ozpin deduced as two siblings fought on. Mordred was being pushed on to the defensive unable to keep up with the speed that Jaune could travel at and the only saving grace was her very heavy plated armor that kept absorbing most of the blows but the blunt damage from the hammer was denting and creaking away at the suit of heavy protected metal.

Things started picking up steam when everyone saw Mordred fight back with a successful block of an overhead swing from the hammer with her left arm guard. She then went to capitalise on the opening just made and thrust her sword at Jaune's exposed chest.

No one in the crowd was expecting Jaune to abandon his weapon just to evade the attack, surely that would put him at a disadvantage.

Then something happened that surprised Ozpin, stunned Alex, and mesmerized everyone else.

Blue energy erupted from Jaune's palms

It weaved and molded around and between his fingers before it soon formed into a jet black engraved Yari spear.

The young male Arc quickly did a fast piercing attack on the side of the armor near a joint that had been damaged from one his early strikes from the hammer. Many people's eyes widened in disbelief when they witnessed the straight-headed spear carve right through the reinforced steel with little to no resistance.

Ozpin too was in shock and disbelief but for a much different reason than the rest of them.

They all watched on as they saw an incredible battle go on with both fighters switching between offensive and defensive. Jaune throughout the fight had kept pulling out different weapons on the fly be it swords, spears, axes, halberds you name it the young Arc had shown off some skill with all of them.

They all came and disappeared the same way with a new weapon materialising in his hands while the forgotten ones dissolved into blue particles. Almost everyone watching was getting excited to see what other weapons the son of Alexander Arc would pull out next so far, the boy had shown himself to use a variety of different weapons and techniques some more better than others. But it was still impressive to them since it must have taken the kid a lot of time to learn how to utilise so many.

People could see Jaune making another weapon this time it looked to be two of them in each hand and so they all waited to see what it was this time. When the quick process of making the weapons was done all their eyes could do was be hypnotised by the two swords.

The swords that Jaune had made in his appeared in his hands right now were in everyone's opinion beautiful.

One was black that seemed to almost absorb any light that hit it with a red hexagon pattern while the other was white that resembled pureness with a shine to it when the light bounced off it both blades were like a mirror image of one another.

* * *

After watching the entire display at hand so far Ozpin was frozen still. His eyes were lost, looking out at the fight and jaw dropped down to the ground.

It was so bad his grip on his cup had gone and...

 _SMASH!_

His favorite coffee mug fell to ground shattering into dozens of pieces and spilling the contents all over the place.

But he didn't have any time to dwell on that as one thing was going off in his head.

'Magic.'

Ozpin could not believe what he was seeing or how it was even possible, but Jaune Arc was somehow wielding some form of magic. It was a different type to the kind he was familiar with but Ozpin only knew the finer detail about the magic he had given out to the maidens or the Branwen twins.

From what the little Ozpin could sense was that he believed that there was something within Jaune that was allowing the young man to have access to this magic but that was the only speculation because of Ozpin giving his powers away, it left him much weaker as the years went on, so more research would be needed to truly know what was going on with Alex's son.

But now another question was on how in the world had Jaune gotten his hands-on this magic in the first place, it wasn't something people could easily come across or else dozens of people would have it right?

Had Jaune happened to have stumbled upon some kind of old magical artifact from legends?

Was it a possibility that the Arc family was related to some kind of old fairy tale like the Silver eyed warriors?

Was all this some ploy by the Queen in their little game?

Or was all this the effects of some outside force that Ozpin had no knowledge on?

So many questions that kept on piling up around him with none of them getting resolved but a thing that was now nagging at Ozpin's conscience was Alex.

Looking over to the father of eight he found that Alex was not having a good time.

The man was stood still like he was in as much shock as Ozpin had been or maybe even more.

But... could Alex be faking that surprise had the man been keeping his Son's magic a secret from him?

It would make sense to Ozpin and explain why he had not ever heard anything about Jaune, Alex's only son before any of this from all their time together.

Had Alex been keeping things from him to protect his family?

It would have been something to investigated later on but one thing was for sure, this simple party where Ozpin originally plan on attending was just for trying to secure Jeanne coming to Beacon next year had become very much more complicated.

* * *

This whole fight had not been what Mordred had envisioned it would be.

Not. at. _all._

When she had first seen the huge crowd gathering around at the party the last thing Mordred had been expecting through it would be her bratty little brother at the center of it.

Seeing her brother always brought a bad taste in Mordred's mouth like she tasted something sour. It was no secret that She and Jaune never really got along when they were younger. Mordred never saw why Jaune wanted to be so much like their dad, with all that crap about what was best for the family name and the Arc legacy or any of that shit.

Mordred followed what she thought was right and best for herself not caring about if it upset her father or anyone else.

It was her life damn it! So, their father should not be making all her life choices on her behalf. Of course, with her fighting back on what Mordred would say was Alex being too controlling with his children had put her at odds with some people in the family, like obviously her father, her older sister, and some time ago Jaune.

When her little brother was still attempting to become a Huntsman like their father, the two siblings didn't get on well together with Jaune hating the fact that Mordred didn't care about family traditions and all that. While all Mordred could see was another version of her father in the making, always caring about tradition this and ancestor that. It made her sick to see Jaune acting like some type of drone doing whatever it was he told because it was for the best of the family and that became no truer the day when their father had told them that he would not be training Jaune anymore because the man deemed that her brother just didn't have what it takes.

And what did her brother do about that you ask?

Nothing!

He just sat there and accepted it! Jaune didn't try and fight back against it or anything just went along with whatever he believed their dad assumed was for the best. Sure, Jaune had been sad for a few weeks hold up in his room but after that, he acted like nothing was wrong and went on with life.

Mordred had lost what little respect she had for Jaune that day and it added more fuel to the fire that was disdain for the man she called father.

From then on Mordred paid little attention to her brother with her going off to Shade and him giving up on his dream choosing to be a blacksmith or something like that.

That was how it had been for years now with nothing really changing until today that is when Mordred saw her little brother in a what looked to a combat outfit.

She too had been shocked about his appearance only she had done a much better job at hiding it. Her older sister and Jackass of a father had just stood there looking at Jaune like he was some sort of alien.

Mordred had quietly watched on from afar as her father awkwardly tried to coax information out his son.

It had been so bad to see that Mordred had been tempted to just go out there and demand what the hell was going with her brother just get it all out of the way.

'It would be much better than all that tiptoeing around bullshit anyway.' was what she had told herself at the time but before she could do anything, that Ozpin dude her father was mates with spoke up.

Now Mordred didn't much care for the old headmaster being that he seemed to always speak like he knew more about a subject than he let on like some kind of smug prick. Plus, the man was friends with her dad and even went to the guy's school when her dad was younger which was all the more reason Mordred didn't like the guy and why she hadn't pick Beacon for her education.

But she would give the old man some props for getting a spar set up though. Mordred could tell that there was something going on with Jaune with how he stood and looked with those muscles she had maybe thought that her complacent little brother had not such been the pushover after all.

Maybe finally Jaune had pushed back and had been up to something behind everyone's backs.

Hey, she might not be the most intelligent person out there in the Arc family but Mordred would like to think she was somewhat perceptive enough to tell when something was staring her in the face.

So, with the headmaster proposing a fight she took her chance.

Getting her on brother temper was child's play just like for any other older sibling who wanted to piss off their little brothers and sisters. The plan had worked, Jaune had agreed and then she would have found out if her suspicions were right.

Much faster than sitting around and talking about it. Plus, hey if Mordred got a bit of chance to show off her skill to other hunters at the same time that was a win also.

But of course, things had not gone as expected.

Not. At. _All._

Apparently, Mordred's suspicions were correct, there was something Jaune was hiding which was surprisingly the fact that her brother could fight and not just well but was able to keep a prodigy like herself at bay.

With Jaune's insane speed and somehow being able to make weapons out of nothing. Mordred had been so shocked under her helmet that it had already been too late to stop anything.

Jaune had hit her first which in turn had may have set off her short temper from being so easily trounced at the start.

So, the two had fought on but it soon became clear that Mordred was having issues against her brother and how he was fighting.

The constantly changing of different styles must have really started put a strain on her because it pushed Mordred to unleash her semblance as red lighting now began to course through her blade and armor. Her slashes now released waves of red lighting at Jaune making him have to dodge them which was not hard with his speed.

Mordred's semblance allowed her to produce destructive red lighting that was able to pass through her sword for extra attack, and the armor she wore to help prevent anyone from getting too close to her. The greatsword Mordred wielded was one she had custom made to be able to store in the electrical energy her semblance produced and to be released in arcs of lighting at her foes.

* * *

-Back to the fight-

The two combatants had dashed moving like a blur at each other.

When they got within striking range Mordred unleashed wild and frantic slashes while Jaune blocked and countered the lot of them.

Mordred's strikes were seemingly slightly stronger and more unpredictable like a wild animal, making her a very dangerous opponent to face off against. Although it would seem that Jaune was not having much if any trouble keeping up with his speed and razor-sharp reaction time being more than enough to hold his sister's blows at bay.

The two Arc ceased trading blows and ended it with their blades locked together. Jaune was pushing back with his two twin swords crossed in an X formation as Mordred's monstrous great sword was pushing down between them.

The siblings show to be at an impasse with neither one of the two being able to break through the lock meaning Mordred had to get creative.

Channelling her semblance crimson lighting sparked across her armor and with the two of them being so close it meant that Jaune got a tasted of what the red sparks can do.

The lightning jumped from the armor and zapped Jaune making the boy lose concentration on the sword lock giving Mordred to chance to push in with a downward slash.

 _SLASH_

With a surprising show of response time, Jaune narrowly avoided the blade by rolling away and to stop Mordred from pursuing him threw the black sword from his left hand.

The blade spin in the air flying straight at Mordred's concealed head. She made to move out of the way but it was still too slow as the sword shot through the air tearing off the right horn of the helmet.

Mordred snarled.

She retaliated by firing a small blast of crimson energy from the tip of her sword pointed at Jaune.

No one saw Mordred's green eyes widen behind her helmet when a sword shot out from above her brother's head and collided with her energy blast creating a small explosion between them.

 _BOOM_

'What the heck!? Since when can Jaune do any of this!'

Any further thinking was halted when her instincts screamed and felt the urge to move.

But she was too late when blades came flying at her.

 _CLANG CLANG CLANG_

Her sword swung wildly attempting to block the projectiles but while partly successful more than a few of them made it past her guard and collided with her armor staggering her back.

Mordred glared daggers at Jaune beneath her helmet as she saw more of those swords materialize up in the air before they too shot off with insane speed right at her.

Thinking fast on her feet she charged up lighting in into her weapon and fired off a large wave of a crimson with the intent of destroying all of them before they got close to her.

Imagine Mordred's absolute bewilderment when the swords moved and weaved right around the attack before they continued back on course right at her.

With the blades coming right at her Mordred moved to evade sprinting off to side in an attempt of escaping but that turned out to be a fruitless endeavour as the swords bended on their flight path following Mordred wherever she went.

They very soon caught up with her and the swords that impacted exploded.

 _BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...BOOM_

'Okay, now that's just taking the fucking piss!' This was getting ridiculous for Mordred now. First, her brother could somehow keep up with her.

A prodigy from Shade academy.

Then he had some semblance of making weapons out of thin air while on the fly it, was mind-boggling.

And now Jaune could use FLYING FREAKING SWORDS that would seek her out like some kind of lock missile!?

What was next a gun!? Or a gun that can fire swords!?

When had Jaune even unlocked his aura anyway? It wasn't their dad, so did Jaune do all of this on his own? Had he been keeping this secret from everyone for years and if so why?

This all too much for Mordred to be thinking of while in the middle of a fight but it did raise an important question.

What the hell had her little brother been up all these years while she was away at Shade?

Suddenly Jaune moved again coming up on her once more but this time Mordred had her own little surprise for him.

With him still a few feet away Mordred charged her blade quickly before she discharged it behind her making her blast forward with a burst.

Jaune was clearly taken back her acceleration within to his space and had to block a swing from her and dig his feet into the ground stay put.

Pulling back Mordred went to repeat her strike but was surprised when iron chains erupted all around Jaune. The chain wrapped around her restraining her limbs halting Mordred from moving and Jaune capitalised on this as he moved back and then outstretched his arm.

There in front of her brother appeared in a flash lest then a second was the largest sword she had ever seen. It was so big that could not of possibly be used by anyone efficiently but it seemed that Jaune didn't need to as the giant sword was fired right at her.

While it was not moving anywhere nears as fast as the small swords earlier it still wouldn't matter much with Mordred unable to move as the chains were still holding her down.

Time seemed to slow down for her as Mordred fought tooth and nail attempting to break free from the chains.

The sword was getting closer and Mordred's aura enhanced strength was waning down the chains as she could feel her sword arm loosen from their hold and at the same time hear her own heartbeat in her chest.

 _BA-DUM_

A few more feet and the sword would hit her.

 _BA-DUM_

The chain on her right arm creaked showing it was nearly free.

 _BA-DUM_

"Argh!" Mordred roared at top of her lungs as she gave one last pull to free her right arm and not a moment too soon as she hastily blocked the huge lump of metal that was the sword flying at her.

 _CLANG_

Sparks roared to life as the two blades scraped against one another making an unpleasant metallic screeching resonate from it hurting anyone's ears that listened to it. But Mordred would endure the horrible sound because she had by some miracle and luck had hit the opposing sword at an angle pushing it to the left only just brushing her armor missing her.

 _THUNK_

The sound of the huge sword smacking into the ground behind her reached Mordred's ears and she breathed a sigh of relief trying to calm her beating heart. Looking up she saw that her brother Jaune was just standing there looking at her in what she guessed might have been shocked and slightly at awe with the feat that she had just pulled off.

It made Mordred want to smile, this little fight had pushed her more than the last couple of months at Shade academy combined.

Of course, both of them quickly remembered that this was still a spar so Mordred acted first and with the only free limb at the time being her sword arm she slashed at him sending another large arc of lighting at him while she attempted to yank herself free from the rest of the chains.

Seeing the wave of energy coming at him Jaune tensed his legs and jump forward not just over the lighting but over Mordred as well. Many widened their eyes at the show of acrobatic maneuvers in the air as Jaune landed graciously on top of the handle of the huge sword planted in the ground that he fired at his sister a few seconds ago.

Mordred spun around as well as one could when still partially restricted by chains. Jaune had landed crouched down low on the handle of the sword with his white fringe shadowing his eyes making impossible to see them.

He slowly began to stand up while still balancing on the small handle.

Being on top of the far away sword had given Jaune more elevation making him look down on Mordred and coupled with his red cape slowly waving around because of the wind had given the young Arc boy a sort of menacing look.

Mordred looked on as Jaune slowly held out his left and made a... Bow?

Why would Jaune need a bow for he clearly didn't need one with already having flying swords at his disposal for ranged attacks but whatever it was for Mordred very much doubted it spelled out good news for her.

Mordred froze solid when she saw something take shape in Jaune's other hand.

She could only make out bits what it was and that appeared to be a sort of lance. It looked like a light grey lance wrapped in something that had beautiful light to it but before Mordred could admire the weapon any longer Jaune had already loaded it into the bow.

She watched on as the lance was twisted and coiled into a spiral of an arrow and then Jaune pulled the string back.

'RUN! FLEE! GET AWAY!'

Dozens of instincts were now screaming at Mordred to doge, block, run or just do anything but when she went to move she had completely forgotten.

The chains were still holding her in place.

Her eyes widened.

Mordred was stuck, trapped, nowhere to go and all she could now do was stay and witness as Jaune muttered something taking aim and then...

Released the string.

The lance? arrow thing upon release transformed into some kind of white-yellow energy bolt. Mordred stood rooted as the bolt traveled at immense speed twisting the air around it tearing everything up in its path as it continued on towards her.

All she could do was grit her teeth and close her eyes and brace for the impacted.

 _ **BOOM!**_

As the bolt hit its intended target it created a massive explosion so powerful that everyone nearby felt the ground shake from the blast. Many people had shield their heads as chunks of dirt rain down on them caused by the explosion. The crowd's vision of the two siblings was completely gone as large dust cloud covered the field.

* * *

"Huff... Huff...Huff..."

Concealed within the cloud Mordred was heavily breathing trying to get as much oxygen into lungs as humanly possible. That last attack had really done her in. It was only because of Mordred's heavy armor and the large pools of aura that the Arcs were known for, that had kept her from losing just now.

Speaking about her armor it was completely trashed as it taken the full brunt of the attack. Now Mordred's helmet was gone showing her face off to the world which was at this point in time looking very exhausted with sweat rolling down it and her hair being a mess all over the place. The chest plate was shattered into tiny pieces of metal lying at her feet and what was left of her armor was creaked or damaged so much that it would do little to protect her now.

Leaning on her sword to keep herself upright Mordred was on her last legs. She didn't know how he did it but Jaune had somehow completely outclassed her.

He was faster than her!

Stronger than her!

Maybe even more powerful than her!

The only real thing that had kept Mordred in the fight for so long was her armor, without it she would have been overwhelmed from the very start. She was going to lose and it hurt her pride as a warrior that her brother who had never even completed their father's training had somehow beaten her, Mordred Arc!

The girl who was at the top the class at fighting, the girl who secured second place at the Vytal festival, all on her own for Shade and she was the prodigy that graduated at nineteen, a whole year earlier than the others.

So how?

How was it that she was going to lose after everything she had achieved?

No!

Mordred won't lose now she refused to give in!

She was going to keep on fighting kicking and screaming she won't just back down!

Pulling herself up Mordred held out her sword in front of her with the blade pointed to the sky. Red lighting busted to life as it traveled up her arms to the sword. Mordred was pumping the largest amount of her semblance into the sword she had ever done before now.

The sides opened up to allow the full amount of power to go into the blade.

A burst of crimson energy poured out of the sword flowing like some had turned on a tap up to the max. A crimson spire shot out upwards making the blade appeared to have doubled maybe even tripled in length and in the process had caused all the dust to clear away.

The dust now gone Mordred could again see Jaune and paused at what was before her. While Mordred had been powering up an attack her brother had not been idle.

Jaune had taken the time make seemingly hundreds of swords, spears, axes and even those troublesome chains.

All ready and aimed towards Mordred.

She blinked fighting back a flinch as Jaune raised his hand and the floating weapons began almost to tremble readying to be fired.

Despite the opposing attack Mordred couldn't help feel a small grin etch its way onto her lips. She lifted her sword up preparing to release her ultimate attack as the anticipation of the blades seemed to grow begging to be unleashed.

"STOP!" A female voice screamed at them.

But before either of them to make the first move however they were interrupted.

The two Arc slowly turned their heads to the left to see their mother June running over from the house and she did not look happy.

"What are you two doing!? Look at what you've done!" She yelled with such fire that it made even Mordred shiver slightly.

Jaune and Mordred both looked around to see that the once nice and peaceful backyard of the Arc household was for lack of a better word ruined.

The grass and soil were up upturned from both Mordred's energy blasts and Jaune's swords that had impacted the ground ruining some of the nice flowers that were planted. There also was the small crater from the arrow Jaune fired early with the one or two bits of grass on fire.

Oops.

Jaune and Mordred both at the same time cease their attacks Mordred's red lighting dispersed and Jaune's hovering weapons dissolved both of them not wanting to piss off their mother any further.

You were signing your own death warrant if you did that.

Looking over at her brother Mordred could now see that Jaune didn't seem fazed too much by what had been for her an intense battle. His clothes were a bit dirty from the fighting and he was sweating, but other than his hair standing up from one or two shocks from her lighting Jaune was fine.

Whereas Mordred was drenched in sweat, exhausted and her armor laid in complete ruins. It should have been impossible, but Jaune had outdone her in the fight and still looking at her brother as he walked off to the house ignoring everyone.

Watching on with a sad frown on her face, she spoke softly mainly to herself. "Jaune... what the hell happened to you, little bro?"

* * *

Alex, who had just watched the fight, was having a hard time coming to terms with what he had witnessed and wasn't the only one, as his daughters were as well who had watched the fight. Their eyes wide like a fish with their mouths slightly parted as all trying to recover and get a hold of themselves.

Apparently, Jaune could fight and he was not just good, but was strong enough to keep up with or possibly outclass Mordred who was in no way a _pushover_ in any sense or form of the word.

It was almost scary to see the most aggressive fighter in the family get overwhelmed so one-sidedly like that.

It was unreal.

It had to be some kind of joke pulled on him orchestrated by his friends or kids as a good harmless prank.

Alex was having to accept the reality of what he had just seen.

His son was powerful...but not just that, Jaune had gotten his aura unlocked and found his semblance.

'When?' Was the question that kept replaying over in Alex's mind.

When had his son learned how fight?

When had his son learned how to use aura and find out his semblance?

When had Jaune gone against his wishes and why had Jaune not said anything!?

When did Jaune even have the time to do any of this? Had Alex been so busy that he had not noticed that his own son had changed this much or... had he noticed but he had just chosen to ignore it, pushing it the side not wanting to acknowledge what had been going on right in front of him.

There were too many questions to sort out and Alex had no time to process any of this because right now he was being stared down by his furious wife.

She wanted to know what the heck was had happened and what was going on

The head of the Arc family was not going to go anywhere until his wife got an explanation and it better be a good one too or Alex would suffer the consequences.

Cursing his luck Alex had a feeling that June would end up having him sleeping on the couch tonight. Of course, while trying to calm his wife down, it didn't halt the dread filling up in his chest about what had just gone down.

Alex needed answers fast, the only problem was what if he didn't like what he found and ended up wishing that he had just remained ignorant on the matter.

* * *

 **Earlier at Shirou's house**

"Man, who would have thought that packing up boxes took this long." The white-haired Archer sighed to himself closing up another box and carrying it over to the others. Looking around he saw that he still had much more stuff to pack up before he would be ready to leave. It had been a few hours now since Jaune had left to his house and Shirou had been stuck bored out of his mind just moving around boxes.

Oh, why was fate such a cruel mistress to him?

The man did wonder what his apprentice was up to at the moment probably in his room packing things that Shirou would say weren't needed where they were going, but whatever, let the kid do what he wants. He was only gonna be at his home for a few hours before he left and then he and the kid would be off simple as that.

It will be fine.

'I mean it's not like the kid was going to blow something up in that time, right?' Shirou chuckled to himself at the thought of it.

 _ **BOOM!**_

...

...

...

...

"Spoke too soon..."

A loud bang reached Shirou's ears coming from the other side of town.

Quickly looking out the nearby window Shirou could already guesses who was responsible. Who else did he know that couldn't be left alone without messing up?

Still looking where, the sound of the explosion came from Shirou tiredly sighed out "God damn it, kid. You had one job, ONE JOB!"

What a troublesome student he had, always causing him problems all the time.

Still though...

Shirou could feel a big grin breaking out on his face. 'Then again clearly, the kid had learned from the best.'

0-0-0

* * *

End

 **There done! I hope that it was okay, you guys don't know how close I was to just giving up on this story and not uploading this chapter since I don't know if i have what it takes for writing. I don't really think that this chapter was as good as the last one which I found kept playing on my mind. Please tell me if it was okay and if you would like to see more of it.  
**

 **Again, I tried to show off different people's POV on things in this chapter but I didn't know how much I would really miss writing things from Jaune POV or him and Shirou just having some banter. Don't worry if I keep going it's gonna be back on Jaune next chapter and his family trying to get some answers.**

 **Thanks to** **lord Rikudou for helping with this story as always.**

 **A Waring that I need to let you all know is that if I keep on going with this story the next up date could be a short world building chapter not connected with what's going on right now. I feel I should warn you guys since I am not fan of when I get notification on a story i enjoy just to find out that the new update was not the continuation of the story it's so frustrating. So be cautious if you see another update to this.**

 **Bit to explain in this chapter:**

 **The bit about early graduations seems fine to me since Ruby had the same thing happen to her because of the skill she showed marking her as a** **prodigy as well. Also, by having prodigies move up in years it kind of explains why no one really makes a big deal that 15-year-old was at Beacon. Plus, it helps me with what I have planned for some of Jaune's sisters like Mordred if I don't have her in a school any more.**

 **Jaune's family**

 **Alright so right now I'll try and talk about the family members I have shown off so far. With Alex, I'm trying to show him to be on the one side sort of a caring person who wants his family to be safe and happy but struggles to do that with him being very narrow mind with tradition and wanting things to go his way. He knows that his job has also caused issues in the family which he hates to do such not being there with them as much as he wants. All this has put at odds with Mordred mostly when it comes to how he thinks she should do things and how Mordred wants to do it. I don't know if I can do a good job with Alex but I think it's better than just writing him straight off as some horrible father that does not care and just demonise him.**

 **I kind of also wanted to show with this that the family has other things going on beyond what's going on with Jaune. I feel like in some stories where the Main character is distant or neglected by their kin is that the family is usually shown off to some kind perfect happy family where nothing is wrong in life until they finally are aware of how they have treated the MC and everything then falls apart. I don't know I always have a hard time buying that with the whole perfect family thing since it just feels too...unbelievable that everyone can just get along so well with no conflict until eventually, they remember the MC. Anyway, I found it more believable that would be more going on in the family outside Jaune like how Alex is away a lot on long missions put some strain on June who is a mother of 8 taking care of them and Alex locking horns with one of his daughters.**

 **With Mordred, I tried to link in the bit about what I wrote in chapter 1 with Jaune and Mordred not getting along too much when they were young as well as giving us a bit of her view on how she saw things when it comes to her brother and family.**

 **The fight**

 **I wrote it a bit differently than how I approached the Raven fight but I don't think it was anywhere near as good as the one from the last chapter maybe because the circumstances were very different with this being a spar and the other was life and death. Anyway, with this one, I tried to boast a bit about what Jaune can do when came to his powers.**

 **If any of you are wondering why Jaune seemed almost just jump right into the fight with Mordred it's kind because of what I have said in the other chapters which I'll say in a min. (That and I just need there to fight so have a conflict at the party.)**

 **If you guy remember I have been trying to hint and say that Jaune has an issue of unconsciously wanting to prove himself because of how he couldn't prove he had what it took to be an Arc to his dad all those years ago. So, with Jaune seeing no way of getting out of the party with so many eyes on him, Jaune in a way decide to use this moment to finally prove himself in a way that he does have what it takes. Plus, the Mordred getting under his skin part didn't help he is only 16 remember and while Jaune can be considered more mature because of his time with Shirou it's still a bit different when it comes to his family.**

 **I also had Jaune finally use a bow since I did mention that he practiced with one in chapter 2 while learning under Shirou. If you're thinking why didn't Jaune use it in the fight against Raven it's simple. She had a way to close the gap too fast for Jaune to take his time to aim it for a clear shot. (Plus, it also gave me something new have in this fight then throw everything in the last chapter.)**

 **One thing to make clear was Jaune was holding back in the spar considering what some of those attacks did to Raven it's fair to say that Mordred would have been annihilated if he went in with the mindset he had when fighting Raven. Since he has the long-range advantage on Mordred and Jaune is not trying to kill his own sister.**

 **Jaune saw that Mordred was not taking a fight with him seriously at the start so he did the same but I also don't want to just have Mordred get wiped out since that would be boring and would feel like an insult to her since like I stated before that Jaune's sisters are prodigies so having them get taken out like chumps would go against that.**

 **Mordred did catch Jaune by surprise at times since he had never fought her before. (Plus, I like Mordred I couldn't have her be taken out like a little bitch.)**

 **I hope that cleared some things up about this chapter but if not, you can try and PM me on other stuff.**

 **I saw a review from** **Existential ERROR** **saying I should do Jaune's** **experience with Ozpin different from what happened at Fate Stay Arc and I do agree since I didn't like how that scene went down in that story but I'm not sure on what route I could take. I would like to hear from you guys since it might help me figure out what I want to do if the two of them have a confrontation. No guarantee I will go with them but I would appreciate the ideas.**

 **Now I'll speak about the pairings since that seemed to be the most talk about thing in the reviews that kept popping up.**

 **I knew as soon as I mentioned parings last chapter that I had opened the floodgates to every single ship out there. People were saying go with Scathach while others said Raven and some people said to go with both. Then I got swarmed with tons of suggestions seeing the seemingly favored Arkos and Lancaster out there a lot with the odd Yang and Blake here and there. Only one person asked for Weiss though as well as one person asking for Winter I don't know who was going to get suggested next?**

 **Anyway, like I said last chapter I don't know what I'm going to do since I don't know if I can pull off a pairing so I'm gonna keep on going with the story for now and see what I want to do. I guess if you guys went you can keep up with the suggestions as long as your civil about it but if I go with a pairing don't think I'm not just gonna go with the most popular suggestion out there though but whatever you welcome to try and convince me I suppose. Be warned that you gonna have an uphill battle on your hands if your dead set on Arkos or Lancaster since I'm not a big fan of those two and I feel like that there are so many of them out there already anyway.**

 **This is to all FGO players**

 **I hope the Gatcha gods have been kind to you for this summing banner since the edgy goth Queen herself has arrived.**

 **Jalter!**

 **You guys... I wasn't ready for this banner I felt like it came out of nowhere! I was hoping that it would come out near the end of the month. I had been saving up for this for ages and had just over 360 quartz and 2 tickets for it.**

 **That's 12 ten rolls!**

 **The first day I roll once and get some of the event craft essences then I use a ticket that went rainbow on me and I got...**

 **Helena Blavatsky, I got spooked -_-**

 **I wait until tomorrow to try again in the morning. I roll to get my first copy of kaleidoscope and I roll again this time getting bloody Nightingale! (I didn't even know she wasn't limited) I keep on going for a while and get nothing until I got spooked by my second Emyia and my first chevalier.**

 **I use my last ticket and get my second Carmilla. -_-**

 **On my seventh roll now and I got my first copy of** **Fragments of 2030 and my first Frankenstein but still no Jeanne alter. I get desperate and burn my 4-star S** **theno as a sacrifice to hopefully summon Jalter. My 8** **th** **and 9** **th** **Roll** **I get nothing and my phone is lagging cuz it sucks at running FGO on it.**

 **10** **th** **roll I go and at the end I finally see a gold avenger card show up displaying Jeanne d'Arc alter! ….. and then my phone crashed while still on the roll.**

 **I was freaking out pissed off that my shit phone may have fucked up my chance of getting her. Thankfully when I load it back up there she was in my servant's archives thank god! Jeanne alter ate up all the exp cards I had saved up to just get to her to max ascension and I now have someone to use my grails on so right now I have her at level 98.**

 **So, I managed to somehow get her which is great since I only had two rolls left. I was thinking about maybe going for NP2 but screw that I rather save up for the next big servant I want even if I don't know who that is yet. I could wait for** **Minamoto no Yorimitsu or the summer servants but who knows. I really want to get my own Scathach since she my favourite that I'm even willing to spend like £20 (I'm not a whale.) which would be my first time buying anything from a mobile game but I don't think it will go well cuz for some reason lancers don't like me when comes to rolling :(**

 **Anyway, good luck with the event and with rolling for Jalter if you still are. I wish you all the best see ya!**


	5. Chapter 5 A Rift In The Family

**Author notes**

 **Hey...so I'm back again and holy crap 950 followers and over 200 reviews that's crazy! I can't thank you all enough.**

 **Yep this a big one. About 24,000 words not counting the** **Author notes added on.**

 **I am glad that my first try at a story is doing so well but I now feel a type of pressers set on me to make sure that my story is good and satisfying as it can be which has been a real pain when I keep feeling the need to keep double checking on every single bit of dialog and interaction between the charters that have I done. I keep thinking someone is gonna found something wrong with it and that will just ruin everything about this whole story.**

 **I'm probably just worrying about nothing or at least I hope I am.**

 **One thing I need to clear up from the last chapter was what one person mistook for something else. Which was the arrow Jaune shot in the fight. Ok, I will say it clearly that was NOT Caladabolg that he used! Okay, I made sure in my head when I was doing the fight to not use Caladabolg for obvious reasons so that's why I describe what Jaune used was a lance instead of a spiral drill-like sword.**

 **Okay moving on**

 **A big thanks to Grim of Brennus Hopes and AlucardTheDragonicGod for taking the time to going over this chapter for me again. As well as thanks to Lord Rikudou who without I most likely would have given up by now since I keep doubting myself while writing and before I post anything.**

 **Warning my spelling and grammar is possible bad**

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series.**

* * *

Chapter 5 - No one wins when family fights.

The sparring match between the two Arc siblings had just ended and many from the crowd were still reeling from the spectacular duel the children of Alexander Arc had just put on. It certainly was a fight that people were going to be talking about for a long time.

Of course, not everyone shared the party goer's excitement about the fight, one of them being the only son of Alex himself.

If you were to peer into what was going through Jaune's head right now it would be both anger and confusion. His temper was mostly directed towards himself seeing as he had lost sight of his purpose for coming home in the first place.

Jaune had gotten so caught up in the moment that he had ended up wasting time on a pointless fight, which he knew was only going to cause problems for him and others as well in the long run.

Looking over to the other side of the field he could see his mother verbally tearing his dad a new one. All the while his father tried to calm her down but it looked like she was having none of it. Jaune was glad he was not on the receiving of his mother anger right now and even felt a little sorry for his father.

Only a little.

Mordred was gazing at him with a look that he had not seen on her before.

He found it a bit unnerving how her green orbs focused on him ignoring anything else around her.

Even the state she was in didn't seem to be her main focus. What remained of his sister's armor covered the lower half of her body with the rest of it broken at her feet. Thank goodness his sister was wearing something underneath the armor or else Mordred might have been giving everyone a free show.

Jaune winced, he felt a bit bad about destroying it. He hoped it wasn't expensive.

'...Especially since I have no cash to pay her back for it thanks to one crazy mask lady burning it all!' The blonde ranted to himself as he glanced at his slightly older sister.

Her hair was a mess with beads of sweat slowly rolling down her frowned face and she looked to be out of breath, which Jaune couldn't understand what for, it was only a spar.

'I hope I don't hurt her...that's the last thing I would want'

It shouldn't have been too much for her to handle, after all Mordred was a rising star as a prodigy fighter from what he could remember. It was why it was so confusing to Jaune that for almost the whole fight he had been the one pushing her back.

Maybe his sister was doing it to make it look like he had given her a challenge and the match was closer than it was to make him feel better. It kind of made sense since she was holding back on him in the fight.

His jaw clenched at that.

The thought of sister going easy on him, looking down at him like he wasn't even worth it.

He had seen it.

Mordred had taken up a very basic stance at the start of the fight and Jaune at that moment knew that Mordred wasn't really going to fight and take him seriously. That had frustrated Jaune beyond belief that she would not even see him as a challenge. The fight had just been a big show... one that might have gotten a little too out of hand.

Gazing upon the destroyed backyard that he and his sister were responsible for, Jaune shook his head, they were gonna need to hire someone to fix it. 'How did this happen in the first place? I just wanted to go to my room and take a shower.'

Speaking of which.

Jaune found his gaze going off towards the house, longing to be in the safety confines of his room where he wasn't being gawked at by strangers he didn't know.

Like some kind of caged zoo animal.

He always did hate crowds and being the around so many people.

Goddamn anxiety.

The young Arc boy began to slowly walk step by step before his pace eventually evened out as he made his way to the Arc household.

Jaune attempt of leaving the scene didn't go completely unnoticed.

He heard the voice of his mother shout out to him in a worried but still demanding tone, the type of which that only she could pull of meaning she must have seen him walking off.

"Jaune! Wait we need to talk to you."

Jaune ignored her, he didn't want to talk right now he had a pretty good feeling what it was going to be about and he was in no mood for her or anyone's questions at this point in time. Of course, that didn't stop the feeling of guilt build up within his stomach for brushing her off like that. His mom was a kind woman who did the best she could with being a stay at home mom while raising eight kids of different ages and personalities where many of them wanted to follow a dangerous profession.

Maybe he should have stopped and talked to her? No, he couldn't, not now after what she saw.

It would only cause unnecessary issues.

Shaking his head to move those thoughts away, Jaune kept on walking keeping his eyes forward focused on the house.

There was one small problem in his way, though.

It seemed like he would have to make his way through the crowd that had gathered much to his dismay.

Some in the crowd were looking satisfied with the fight or upset that it got called off right before the finale while others were shocked not moving.

Jaune honestly was finding this baffling.

Why were these people amazed or shocked by the fight for?

Surely, they knew that Mordred was going easy on him, right? She had to of been for him to do so well against her. His family, he could understand being shocked since he had kind of now just blow the lid off his secret that they had no knowledge of for years that he had kept from them.

Maybe the people were easily entertained by a simple fight...but weren't some of the people here Huntsman and Huntresses? So surely, they must have known that both him and Mordred were not going all out.

Right?

Whatever it was just more things to add to his confusion.

Moving through the crowd Jaune could see in the corner of his eye that his other sisters had shown up and witnessed his whole little show with Mordred as well. They were all huddled together watching him from afar.

Lily and Lucy his younger sisters were both were displaying obviously shock but seemed to be uneasy as they were taking quick glances at him, not wanting to make direct eye contact. That hurt Jaune a bit like someone had just punched him in the gut but he wouldn't show anything right now, not with so many people watching him. Moving on to Jeanne, his twin who had now grown up into a young teenager like himself, had her big blue orbs fixed on him with surprise but had a hint of sadness to them. She seemed to be taking it better than the young twins were at least.

Although that wasn't saying much.

Olivia was pretty much in the same state she was in when he had first come up to her in the party, shocked and a bit shaken up, but had a slight questioning gaze within her blue eyes. It was quite possible that his oldest sister was taking things the best with her being the most mature out of them all.

Arturia who grown up to be very beautiful women at the age of twenty-two had her hair braided into a bun with two long side bangs running parallel down the sides of her face. She was by far the worst one with how her emerald green eyes were almost trying to burn a hole in his head. His second oldest sister appeared the most composed but one look at her eyes could tell you that she wanted answers and was judging him.

It was only by some unknown miracle that she hadn't pounced on him like a lion on its prey. Demanding answers and if she didn't like what she heard, well we don't want talk about that.

The only sister that wasn't with them was the youngest one, Rose who Jaune guessed was possibly still in the house somewhere. Much to his hidden relief, Jaune didn't think he could handle them little blue eyes of hers staring deeply at him wondering what was going on.

Then again maybe she would be too young to fully grasp the gravity of the situation.

As he kept going deeper into the crowd losing sight of his sisters some people start congratulating him on an excellent fight saying "Amazing show lad!", "I can't wait to see you compete in the Vytal festival!" or "You really are your father's son."

Jaune really wanted to get out of the center of attention he had found himself in, not liking it one bit.

At least when it happened at the villages, that he and Shirou helped out in, it was because he had done something to earn it but this...they were congratulating him on an average fight at best since it was clear to Jaune that Mordred didn't go all out and neither did he.

It was just a stupid show to entertain others nothing like a real fight.

As Jaune made it to the other side of the crowd that had pushed through he was only a few feet away before finally reaching the safety of the Arc household as his went to the patio door.

'Finally!'

...but before Jaune could be in the nice familiarity of his house with no strangers he stopped.

His hand stops just touching the handle of the door when he felt it.

Jaune's body froze up as he felt his sense telling him he was being watched by someone closely nearby.

But by who?

"An Impressive fight mister Arc." He heard a soft smooth call out from behind him.

Turning his head around very slowly Jaune saw the culprit.

It was a man near the edge of the crowd staring intently at him with a stern face.

He was a middle-aged man with grey hair and shaded glasses holding a cane in his right hand. The outfit the older man was wearing consisted of a cowl with a cross-shaped pin on it, he had a black suit over green shirt with a vest to top it off with. He also wore black trousers and shoes that strangle enough had some splash stains on them that looked recent.

'huh, a bit odd, he must have spilled something.' Jaune observed.

To many, the man seemed almost harmless but to Jaune, he couldn't help but feel on edge just being in his presence and the center of his focus it reminded him slightly of the mask women he fought a week ago but much worse in how it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He didn't know why but one glance at the man already had put Jaune on his guard and had to restrain himself from acting on instincts installed in him by Shirou as to not make a scene. The man was dangerous that much was obvious even if you wouldn't know it by looking at him.

This man was truly testing his fight or flight instincts and Jaune found himself leaning towards the latter.

The two of them were in silent staring contest now with neither of them wanting to break away from each other's eyes as if to not show weakness.

…

…

...

The more time Jaune's blue orbs locked with the man's brown ones was when Jaune was finally able to recall the grey-haired man.

'He was the one who suggested the fight the first place!'

The young Arc's narrowed his gaze as he started to remember that his father had called the man Ozpin if he recalled right back then which meant one thing.

Since there was only one person with that name who would be at this party, and it was a well-known one for many people and him as well.

It should be since he had heard it a quite a bit growing up.

Jaune was looking at the mysterious headmaster of Beacon academy Ozpin. This marked the first time of ever meeting the man if Jaune was corrected in his assumption.

Now Jaune had heard a few tales of the man when was younger from his father when he used to speak about his journeys to him. He knew that Ozpin was the one his father worked closely with and was the same man who ran the school that his father enrolled in.

The same School that Jaune dreamed of attending wanting to be Huntsman just like his father when he was younger.

So now the question was why a man who was well adored by the public and hunters alike making Jaune feel so on guard like he needs to be careful of every little thing that he did as if was in danger.

...

As the seconds passed by between Jaune and who he now knew as Ozpin the young Arc soon found his gaze going to the cane in the headmaster's hands.

The man had a tight grip on the fancy walking stick. The handle was engraved with a pattern and contains small golden colored gears. It had a large knuckle guard that seemed to act as a switch of sorts, it didn't appear like the old headmaster need the cane for mobility sake so why was the man holding onto it so dependently.

'Is that... his weapon?' Jaune found himself questioning as he eyed the object that seemed to hold great importance to the man.

Soon curiosity got the better of him and Jaune almost on instinct decide to try and trace it.

An act in which Jaune instantly regretted as a familiar wave of static filled his vision paired followed with a painful headache.

* * *

 _ **BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

…

'What the?...'

 _ **"You failed."**_

A voice stated to him, at least it seemed like one but no one was speaking so could he hear a voice? Whatever had spoken sounded like a hundred voices all rolled into one.

There was floating blue sphere emitting something that Jaune could not even begin to describe as he had nothing to compare it to.

The sphere was there for just half a second and then...

It was gone and what followed was not pleasant.

Images of deaths flashed across through Jaune's vision. He was seeing everything from his own eyes yet...

The perspective wasn't his own.

He had no control over the body he was in viewing everything and could hear thoughts that weren't his own.

 _People were dying, you tried to save as many as you can but you failed._

 _You always failed._

 _ **"Repeat."**_

 _The same thing happens again, you tried to do what you could to protect them but it was all for nothing. You can never defeat her through each life._

 _Why is this happening?_

 _What does it want from me!_

 _I can't even remember anymore._

 _The same emotions fill your heart over and over again._

 _ **Loss...Sorrow...Despair...**_

…

 _Why won't it end? How much must I endure?_

 _ **Death.**_

 _It should be over now but it won't let me go, I have been doing this for so long that I don't even remember anything anymore._

 _..._

 _ **"Repeat it over again until you succeed."**_

 _The cycle continues anew, never stopping._

 _ **BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**_

* * *

Jaune broke eye contact with the cane and needed to grit his teeth as the painful vision vanished as quick as it came. He had to take deep calming breaths to keep himself steady as not fall on his ass.

"Huff...huff."

'What the fuck was that!?'

That had never happened before when Jaune attempted to trace someone's weapon.

Whatever it was it left him feeling sick. It couldn't even comprehend what he had just seen but Jaune knew he never wanted experience anything like that ever again.

Taking a sharp breath in Jaune was left with trying to understand what had just happened. Looking back up he saw that the older man had one of his eyebrows raised delicately in confusion wondering why Jaune had just broke eye contact with him.

It was like Jaune was about pass out all of sudden.

Getting his bearings together, Jaune had no idea what just happened but one thing is for sure, he didn't feel comfortable staying in this man's presence one second longer and with that said Jaune hastily made his way back to the house stepping through the back door.

Wanting to get as far away from the older man as humanly possible.

* * *

After finally entering the house Jaune hastily started making his way up the stairs before reaching his room.

Opening the door Jaune walked in and not looking back pushed the door shut behind him with a bit more force than he intended, resulting in a loud bang ringing out throughout the Arc household.

 _Bang!_

Now in the confines of his own room, Jaune released a huge sigh and found himself closing his eyes leaning his back onto the door. Thinking about what had just transpired today.

It had felt like ages since he been able to relax.

This day had really taken a lot of him both mentally and physically. A lot more than it should have anyway seen as it was just meant to be a simple day of him returning to his hometown, but things had already gone bad when Shirou said he was planning on leaving for a year but Jaune had somehow managed to convince his teacher to take him along as well.

Which was great! He would not lose his only way of helping him achieve his dreams, so all Jaune needed to do was just go home and pack up then meet Shirou when he was ready.

It was so simple, nothing could go wrong.

But of course, it seemed his crap luck had reared its ugly head again. Showing up at his house, he found out there was a party going on which had confused the most out of him, so he had gone to find out what was going on.

Thankfully Jaune managed to notice his oldest sister within the sea over people at the party.

Jaune had just wanted to speak with Olivia to find out what this party was all about, once he had learned the celebration was for his twin Jeanne, who had apparently had earned some kind of early graduation, Jaune had tried to retreat back into the family house.

Of course, Jaune should have known that Olivia was not going to just let her little brother walk away so easily after the shock he had given her with his appearance. He should have known something like this could have happened with the fact that his oldest sister hadn't seen him in while coupled with his hair and the eye-catching garb, Jaune had been asking for trouble.

He blamed Shirou for making him go home like this.

Anyway, because of the complication with his older sister it led to Jaune being spotted by his father and what had followed might have been the most awkward conversation in his life. His dad seemed to act as stiff as a plank of wood.

Maybe it was because of all the attention that was on them?

The head of the Arc family had asked him some confusing questions like where he had been.

Which was weird since usually, he and his father didn't talk much nowadays, maybe because they were both busy and away at different times?

Or at least that was what Jaune would like to think instead of his dad being busy with whatever, and him training to avoid any interactions with the man that might have caused problems.

Anyway, Jaune tried to play everything off but it looked like his dad was being stubborn, unwilling to let the matter drop. The head of the Arc family kept asking things of him, coupled with the crowd that encircled them, it had all made Jaune a little uncomfortable.

Before any of the lines of questions could get anywhere, the man that Jaune had seen earlier with the big mustache had interrupted them and then the man started hugging him out of the blue!

Asking him what weapons he used, and all Jaune could think about at the time was why was all this happening to him? He just wanted to take a damn shower!

And from there things got even stranger with Jaune getting roped into a fight with his own sister, Mordred.

Now Jaune will admit that a part of him did wanted to go out there and show his family how far he had come. He had been reluctant at first but with so many people making him uneasy and Mordred agitating him had made him just go through with it.

How could he have been so stupid! He should have thought things through instead of just jumping into it like he did. Shirou always told him that it was a bad habit of his that needed to be curbed.

He should have heeded that advice.

Now his family had seen him, they know about the skills and abilities he had, or were at least on to him.

They would clearly know now that he had been lying to them about the blacksmithing.

Sure, a blacksmith might be able to get away with saying they knew how to wield a weapon, but that didn't cover the fact he could fight like he been trained to go up against any other huntsmen or that he had unlocked his Prana.

There was no way they would let this go.

It was only a matter of time now before they would start asking questions.

Like what had he been doing all this time, when had he unlocked his Prana or how long had he been lying to all of them and why.

Jaune didn't want to answer anything like that.

He was worried that they may try and put a stop to it all, stop him training with Shirou and not allow him to follow his dream of wanting to help people.

"Err.." A frustrated groan escaped Jaune's lips as he felt like ripping his hair out.

'None of this was ever meant to happen!' Why did everything have to come out now right when Jaune planned on leaving. He put himself right in front of everyone's line of sight with no way out.

What would he even tell them?

Should he even say anything in the first place? The obvious answer could be seen as yes. They were his family and they cared about him so maybe his parents and sisters should know what their son and brother had been up to behind their backs.

Maybe they would understand. It was silly hopeful thought which he very much doubted.

On the other hand, did they really deserve to know?

After all, he had always felt like the black sheep of the family, having no talent or skill to mark him as a prodigy like his sisters. The constant praise he heard revolving around his siblings in his youth was like a constant reminder that Jaune wasn't good enough to call himself an Arc. His father had told him that he didn't have what it took to achieve his dream that he would only end up getting himself killed.

But his Dad was wrong, he could achieve his goal as long as he kept getting back up again and never gave up. That's how he came so far in the last four years, it wasn't because of some natural born talent like his sisters, but from hours of pain-inducing hard work.

'And get myself killed? Ridiculous!'

It was like they had viewed him as being too soft for life of Huntsman. He wanted to laugh at that, if that's what they thought, after everything he had done with Shirou, how could Jaune not be ready for what the world would throw at him.

Sure, maybe he wasn't as skilled as his Sisters or his teacher but damn it he was no pushover either.

Jaune felt his right hand clenched.

When his Dad had just said to give up and that his son didn't he have what it takes. Shirou had shown up and told him he could achieve his dreams, showed Jaune that there was more to being a hero than the simple childhood stories that he had been told as a kid.

Shirou had shown that he cared about him and that what he wanted to do with his life wasn't unachievable. As long as he stays on track and didn't let his dream completely rule him he should at least be able to make a difference.

His grip tightened even more.

Jaune really didn't know what to do but he knew that panicking right now would not solve anything. Taking a deep breath to cool his nerves he found his grip on his right-hand loosened, showing that it was working,

Opening his eyes, Jaune was greeted with the state of his room.

It was exactly how he had left it before Jaune had gone off with Shirou on their little trip out of town, helping out the village with their bandit problem.

There was a nice big bed against the wall neatly done up with a small bed stand nearby holding an alarm clock and small lamp. A big window on the other side of the room allowing a light source to seep in and had a desk nearby with a family photo on it where Jaune would do his work.

It was mostly stuff Shirou would tell him to do when he went away and couldn't take him along.

There was also a wardrobe left open displaying a variety of clothes, mostly the same type of baggy black hoodies and blue jeans...as well as one seemingly out of place bunny onesie.

It was a thing his youngest sister had won as a prize for some cereal contest. Sadly, the outfit was way too big for Rose so she had given it to Jaune as a gift, which he couldn't refuse it coming from his four-year-old sister now, could he? He wore the thing once to make her happy and then he put it in the back of his wardrobe vowing to never wear something so ridiculous ever again.

All in all, one word to describe Jaune's room would be clean, which could be seen as weird since it's not generally normal for a teenager's room to be so spotless. It might have something to do with Shirou's need to do tons of housework rubbing off on him.

Done looking at the state of his room Jaune set his eyes on the small bathroom within his own room. All the bedrooms had one in the Arc household, you don't have a family of Hunters that have been around for generations and not have some money saved up for a fairly fancy house. Making his way over to the bedside Jaune started to undress first by unhooking the red tattered cape around his waist setting it down on the bed and did the same with his fingerless gloves. As Jaune was undoing his boots he heard the door to his room open.

"Jaune..."

Turning his head around, Jaune probably shouldn't have been too surprised to witness his mother alone standing in the doorway coming into the room.

* * *

 **Earlier with June Arc**

Today really was shaping out to be much more hectic then June Arc could have ever imaged. The Arc matriarch had been hoping for a nice peaceful day where she could enjoy herself with both her family and friends.

June too had been happy when her daughter Jeanne had told her that she had shown such skill that it had earned her little girl an early graduation. Everyone was proud of her for it, none more than Alex who had decided to host what was meant to be a small party in their daughter's honor.

Although, it turns out that June and her husband had different opinions on the word 'small' seeing as her home had become filled to keeping dozens of friends of her husband and her other daughters hosted. Making it nearly impossible for her to enjoy herself with the insane amount of people here. She had wanted only close friends at the party but everything got blown out of proportion.

The only real silver lining was that she had a chance to see her dear friend Willow Schnee again, after what felt like ages, the two of them had been close friends for a few years now and recently June had been trying to help her dear friend who was going through a hard time.

It wasn't hard to see why.

Willow was in a loveless marriage with a man who cared only about the business that he had only gotten in the first place through said marriage.

Willow had been going through a rough patch where she had taken to drinking during all hours of the day, becoming disconnected from everyone. It had only been because of June's stubbornness and concern for her friend that she had pushed herself to get Willow back on track.

The process had taken up a lot of June's recent time with her wanting to get her friend back.

June would like to say she had succeeded to varying degrees seeing as she had somehow managed to stop Willow from becoming a full-on alcoholic, but she still did drink more than one probably should. Still, June was glad to see that her friend was in a much better place than before and looked to only to be getting better as time went on.

When the matriarchs of both the Arc and Schnee families met up with each other today the two of them had quickly found themselves not liking the loud and crowded scene of the backyard. With it reminding Willow of the parties she had forced to attend because of her husband and June just wanted some peace and quiet.

So, the two of them had gone to find a quieter place in the house with little Rose accompanying them as well. The poor girl still wasn't too used to being around so many people.

June found herself enjoying a nice quiet chat with a friend then the loud party outside.

The two had spoken about many things from how they were and what was going on with their families recently while the platinum blonde drinking some coffee and the white-haired Schnee drinking only one small glass of wine. Which was all Willow was allowed to have by order of June.

Young four-year-old Rose Arc just sat by them not paying attention choosing to focus on her coloring book.

Willow had learned about how Mordred had gone and decided to skip her last year of education without telling her parents. June also informed her about how it had led to some tension between the young rebellious Mordred going up against Alex and Arturia.

It was something June didn't want at all. She hated it when the people she loved fought with one another. No one likes it when family fight each other, there are never any winners, only the people you care about getting hurt.

The final thing that has been playing on June's mind with what she spoke with to her friend about was her son and how It seemed like was Jaune was becoming slightly distant. It seemed like it was only June that worried about it at times, at least to her that is. With everyone else just turning a blind eye not wanting to acknowledge something right in front of you.

Then again, it's not like Jaune was being very open with everyone so that made it just as hard.

June then had found out about how well Willow was doing with her daughters, Winter and Weiss, who had been worried about their mother when she had started drinking. The two girls had been very grateful to June for all she had done for their mother since it felt like they would lose her forever.

It's why Willow had been trying hard to connect back with her children after her period of depression ever since.

Winter was following her own career in the Atlas military, much to the displeasure of Jacques who had taken away Winter's inheritance much to Willow's anger and sadness that she couldn't do much for her daughter.

While it seems, Weiss had her sights set on learning to become a huntress. Which upset Jacques again, but the man could not stop Weiss since Willow had threatened the man that if he did what he did to Winter on Weiss then she would fight him on it with everything she could. That seemed to do the trick for the man.

Sadly, it seemed things were not going so well with her son Whitley, who looked like he had too much of his father in him and it was even worse with her husband Jacques as the two were now sleeping in different bedrooms back at the manor.

The two friends could have chatted for hours if not for the commotion coming from the backyard. June had at first thought nothing of it thinking that her Husband might be roughhousing with an old school friend or something.

That all changed when she, Willow and Rose had heard an explosion go off and a tremor shack them like a small earthquake had passed over. Getting a little more than concerned June had to ask Willow to watch over her youngest while she went out to investigate.

Imagine her shock when she came outside to witness half of the garden she had planted flowers in, destroyed with a huge dust cloud in the middle of it. It only got worse from there as the dust cleared and June had a front row seat seeing Mordred and her son look like they were about to blow each other off the face of Remnant.

She had no idea what she was seeing or what in the clue was going in but to June it seemed like her two children were about to kill each other!

Acting on her first instinct she ran out towards them screaming at them to stop and by some miracle, they listened putting a stop the madness.

Thank goodness.

Finally knowing that her two babies weren't about to keep on fighting each other, June's grey eyes hunted down the one person who had to know what was going on.

Her husband.

When her gaze finally found the blonde idiot, it looked like he was looking for an escape route.

Shame it wouldn't save Alex from her wrath.

She wasted no time shouting at Alex demanding to know what the heck had happened in the few hours she had left him unsupervised. While scolding him for being so reckless as to just sit back and watch them fight as their children were clearly taking it too far. It was then when June noticed that her son was walking away from the scene.

June had tried calling out to him but it seemed like Jaune was in his own little world as he just kept on walking like he didn't hear his mother calling out to him in the first place.

Realising that Jaune was not going to come back to them and no one seemed planning on stopping his advance towards the house June had brought her attention back to Alex. Telling him quietly that the party was over and to send the all guests home while she went and checked on Mordred.

Once sure Mordred was fine the mother of eight called out to Olivia and Arturia.

After getting her two oldest daughters to help her get Mordred back into the house, seeing as the girl was clearly exhausted no matter how much Mordred tried to deny it, June then went to find her son assuming that Jaune had gone to his room.

And so, here she was now.

Right outside her son's room staring blankly at the brown wooden door. June honestly didn't know what to do right now seeing as she didn't know what to expect going in when dealing with her son.

She knew that her son had been acting much more distant recently in the last couple of years but June had hope that would just be because Jaune was a teenager going through his own phase similar like his siblings before him.

But June always thought that Jaune's ways of acting out like most teenagers did were strange.

Instead of becoming moody like Olivia did at his age, Jaune became quieter not talking to them as much as he used to.

Instead of trying to act more independent like Arturia, Jaune would spend more time in his room or be away on long trips.

Instead of being like Mordred who would get into fights with everyone over some the simplest things, Jaune would become more distant with the family at times.

June honestly had no idea what to do back then when it was happening.

She tried talking to Jaune when she had a chance, which wasn't easy with her son being away so much and her dealing with a toddler but when she did get a chance he would always just say "Everything is fine mom." or "I'm alright, nothing to worry about." which lead to nowhere.

How could she help or even figure out what was going on with her son if Jaune wouldn't even talk to her in the first place?

His own _mother_.

It only seemed like Jaune was only interested in continuing his apprenticeship he had going on which her son would leave for long intervals of time before finally returning. That was one of the things that had started to get suspicious for June and that feeling only kept on growing as time went on.

The near-final straw was when the bangs of Jaune's hair had started to turn white. Which June had at first just thought she was seeing things or maybe Jaune had just dyed his hair, but that wasn't possible as it was easy to see with how slow the progression of blonde turning into the snow colored white, that it had to be natural in some way.

Of course, her son had tried to play things off saying that his change in hair color was because of some kind of late genetics he got from her but June didn't really buy that crap for a second.

For one, while June's hair color could be seen as closer to white than blonde, it still had some tiny signs in it that showed it wasn't. While what Jaune claimed to be inherited from her was a purer white like you would see on a Schnee.

Ever since then June had been keeping a much closer eye on her son. She knew that he was not being a hundred percent honest with what he was up to, but June could never have anticipated what she had witnessed a few moments ago when her son had made hundreds of weapons that suspended up in the air.

It was most likely why she had yet to open the door and speak with her son, June had no idea what to prepare herself for...but she needed to at least check on him.

What kind of mother would June be if she let her fears of finding out what was really going on with her son frighten her away?

So, taking a deep breath to collected herself June grabbed the door handle and slowly twisted it opening the door.

"Jaune..." Her voice was soft as she called his name.

Her son was sitting down on the side of his bed and looked to be in the process of taking off his steel plated boots, getting undressed before she walked in on him. She still hadn't quite become accustomed to his look since she always remembered him being skinnier and less toned.

June quickly realised that her son wasn't about to say anything so the mother of eight went with her instincts and asked a simple but important question. "Are you alright?...you're not hurt, are you?"

After seeing the state that Mordred was in, she needed to know that her baby boy wasn't possibly worse.

Jaune face frowned into one of confusion not expecting that to be the first thing his mother would ask him. "Err um... y-yeah I'm fine just bit dirty and sweaty is all nothing to worry about."

June released a breath that she didn't know she was holding, glad to hear that Jaune was okay. She gave him a small sweet smile as if to convey how relieved she was to hear it.

Jaune attempted to give one back only for it to become across as more nervous than anything else.

Starting to feel the awkwardness creep in, June said. "That's good..." Before pausing not knowing what do next in this situation, until eventually sighing and choosing to say why she was really here for.

"Jaune...we need to talk about what happened back out there... about what you did."

And the tiny smile on Jaune's face was wiped off, only for it to be replaced with a hard frown and spoke with a flat tone to her. "There is nothing that needs talking about."

Now it was June turn to frown.

'Why is he acting like this?'

She had hope that Jaune would have been more forthcoming about what had just happened but June supposed that was wishful thinking, considering it looked like Jaune had been keeping secrets from everyone for a while now.

June honestly didn't want to try and force Jaune into confessing the truth, but it made her worried that it may only make things worse and not to mention she wasn't the best at this type of thing, being the softer one out of her and Alex when it came to their children.

But if she didn't at least try and get Jaune to speak to her, then June was sure Alex will be the one asking the questions and she just knew he wouldn't be as delicate as she was being.

So, the women of the Arc household tried again. "Jaune you can't just sit there and tell me it's nothing when it clearly is. I mean for crying out loud you destroyed half the garden and you have clearly been keeping the unlocking of your Aura a secret from everyone! I just want to know why?"

Now that got a reaction out of Jaune as he looked back to his mother questioningly. "Aura?"

"Yes, your Aura don't act ignorant about it, you were apparently, according to your father, using it all throughout the fight along with your semblance."

Jaune narrowed his eyes thinking trying to figure out what his mother was on about. "Using it along with my Semblance...? Are you talking about my Prana?"

'What?'

Now it was June's turn to look confused "Prana? I have no idea what you are on about sweetheart, but no I mean your Aura."

Her son looked like she just shaken his whole world for a moment as it was clear Jaune wasn't following her.

"You know? The source of power within everyone that helps protect us, heal us, and as well as used for our semblances." June said slowly.

Looking a bit frustrated with not being understood and being spoken to like he didn't know what he was talking about, Jaune shot back. "Yea that sounds pretty much like what I was on about when I said Prana, _you're_ the one not making any real sense to me about this _Aura_ thing."

What was her son on about? Was he just trying to throw her off by making stuff up?

It had to be, none of what he was saying made any sense.

Watching her son getting agitated over the subject June chose to not keep going with it but would take note and ask the others in the family about it at a later date. "Okay then, fine you have your "Prana" unlocked or whatever it's called, it still doesn't change the fact that we need to have a serious talk Jaune."

"I already said I don't want to talk right now!"

"Well I do!"

"…."

"Jaune don't ignore me!"

"...Can't you just let this go!"

Her son loudly stated, not wanting to talk to her at all. Acting completely unreasonable and childish if you ask her.

Getting up from his bed, with his boot off Jaune walked forward near the bathroom door with a mirror hung up on the nearby wall and started taking off his shirt while stating back with a sigh. "Look, mom, I know you want to talk but I'm not in the mood right now so will you please just leave me be and let me finally take a shower."

The way Jaune said it clearly implied that he wanted her gone just so he could get out of having a talk with her. Her son really didn't want her here and June could feel it.

Well tough luck, she wasn't going to give up that easily.

"You can have a shower after we..." Whatever June was about to say back to her only son died in her throat along with her courage as she saw the reflection of Jaune's chest when he lifted his shirt up unaware of what he just done.

June's eyes shot open as a horrified gasp escaped from her lips so loud that she covered her mouth with both hands letting only her eyes take everything in.

There on the reflective surface of the mirror, showed a large ugly scar going across Jaune's chest. The damaged skin looked fresh like the wound had been inflicted recently so it hadn't had enough time to appear as a faded line but more as an angry red and pink slash going from one side to the other. Ruining the otherwise flawless smooth skin that had once been there on her son's chest.

The young blonde hearing the shocked gasp from his mother turned his head around to behold the women who had raised him was shaking. Jaune cocked his head in confusion before following her line of the sight to the nearby mirror.

His's eyes widened when realisation of what his mother had just seen set in and Jaune quickly attempted to cover up to prevent her from seeing it.

But it was too late the damage had already been done.

Witnessing what her son was trying to do, June broke out of her shock state and raced over to him stopping the boy from hiding the deformity that decorated his chest. The two of them struggled for a few seconds before eventually, Jaune gave up seeing as his mother had already seen the scar, there was no point in trying to hide it now.

With her son now ceasing his struggle, June now had time to much closely inspect the healed wound. June's hand moved to his chest as her fingers slowly traced the scarred tissue, she wasn't a doctor by any means but even June could tell whatever had inflicted the wound was bad.

It was certainly a slash wound that caused most of the damage but on the outer area, the scar looked different more like it had been burned.

June was pretty sure she could feel her grey eyes watering unintentionally the longer she kept staring at it. Jaune had been hurt and from the looks of the wound very recently.

'But when?'

June Arc didn't know what hurt her more, the fact that she had no idea that her son had been hurt in the first place or that Jaune had never come to her about such a thing and had been contempt with her staying oblivious for maybe the rest of her life.

It was not long for that sadness June felt to become a raging fire.

Someone had hurt her son...her baby boy, June swore if she ever found out who did this, the Arc matriarch would make it so whatever scum had dared to lay a hand on her child would burn.

Somewhere else, a raven bird felt a strange cold chill pass through its body for an unknown reason.

But all that could wait for now as she needed to focus on the now.

Looking up to Jaune who towered over her much smaller stature she saw her son was looking to off to the side not wanting to meet her eyes.

"Jaune...look at me...please." June managed to keep her voice strong as her other hand gripped his arm. Eventually, the blue orbs that were so much like her husbands looked back down giving off a much more somber feel then the usually bright blue June was used to seeing.

"J-Jaune tell me...who did this to you? What have you been doing and keeping from us? I'm worried about you." June knew she sounded desperate, maybe she was but she didn't know what to do. Her son wasn't talking to her and was hiding things from the whole family.

The young Arc didn't say anything at first, just kept trying to avoid eye contact not wanting to see the teary eyes of his mother. His mouth opened a few times to speak before closing again as Jaune seemed to be thinking about what to say looking very conflicted.

Sighing out, "Mom, please...I just... I..." he paused to try to think on what to tell her. " Please just let me take a shower...I'll...we'll try and talk later."

"Jaune no! We need …I... you can't..." As her son moved out of her grip June didn't know what to do.

"Mom...just don't say anything about this to anyone...please I'll talk later...I promise...j-just give me some time."

A part of June just wanted to scream at her son, telling him that he couldn't just ignore this, that they need to speak now but another part of her head was whispering to her that being aggressive maybe wasn't the way to go.

What should she do?

June didn't want her and Jaune to be at each other's throats she was just scared and concerned for her son. Which was understandable given what she had just seen on his chest told June that Jaune had gotten himself into something dangerous.

Why won't he just talk to her!

With a heavy heart, June slowly nodded her head speaking gently not wanting to cry. "Alright...I will be downstairs then for when you're ready to speak."

She then aimlessly walked back to the door and before closing it June looked back to her son. "Please don't keep us out Jaune we're worried about you."

With that said June left the room shutting the door behind her leaving her son to his privacy for now.

* * *

Waiting until the door was finally closed Jaune dropped his head letting out a depressed sigh.

Jaune felt horrible for making his mother almost cry like that and for not willing to answer her questions but he didn't know what to do. Jaune felt almost torn, he didn't want his family to be hurt but another part of him felt like he would be betraying Shirou if he just started spilling out everything they had been doing for the last four years.

'Even if Shirou had never said that I couldn't tell anyone about what we did.'

Not to say anything about the fact that if they learned about him fighting bandits his parents would definitely stop him from ever meeting Shirou again. He didn't know what course of action to take, Jaune had been found out because of his foolishness and now the two parts of his life that he had wanted keep apart were now colliding.

This was not how things were meant to go.

Not. At. All.

It only got worse now that his mother had seen his scar. 'What was I thinking! I got so caught up in what happened outside and what my family was going to do that I forgot about my injury!'

He had just wanted to get undressed hoping his mother might back off and let him get away for a shower so Jaune could collect his thoughts on what to do. Instead, he made everything even worse with the scar being seen, it now meant that his family was going to be on his case more than ever if his mother said anything.

If that was even possible.

It was like Jaune's world was falling apart every second that passed and he was in a downward spiral.

There was also the bit about his mom had been going on about this Aura thing talking down to him like he knew nothing which wasn't true. Jaune could recall the word being passed around the house once or twice in his youth but he never found out what it was all about. Only that had something to with his sister's careers as huntresses.

'Aura huh? I'll need to make a note it'

This was not Jaune's day.

"What's next?" The teenager depressingly asked himself and then as soon as he had said that he felt the vibration of his Scroll.

"Huh?"

Pulling the small device out of his pocket and looking to see who the heck was calling him Jaune felt a wave of relief hit him as he saw the familiar image displaying a grumpy Shirou. It was the only picture Jaune had managed to take of his teacher at the time since it was not always the easiest thing to make the old bastard crake a smile.

Although Jaune did wonder why his mentor might be calling him in the first place, he didn't think too much about it and answered the call without hesitation.

"Shirou?"

…

Silence until,

"You fucked up, didn't you?" Was the reply the blonde got back in a flat, straight to point kind of way.

Jaune nearly dropped his Scroll in shock as a live feed of the white-haired man appeared on screen lightly glaring at him.

"What! No, I err um err...how did you know?" Was Shirou psychic or something?

The older man rolled his eyes. "It's wasn't hard to figure out, seeing as I heard an explosion from the other side of town. So, seeing as this place isn't under attack, there really is only one other person I know who can't be left alone for less than five minutes without messing up."

Jaune winced as he was told that and chuckled nervously. "heh you heard that huh?"

"Of course, I did I'm pretty sure half the town heard that explosion go off and considering you're not denying anything I take it I'm right."

The young Arc sighed in defeat. "Yes, okay your right, I messed up I messed up big time alright."

Seeing this Shirou raised an eyebrow telling Jaune to explain what had happened, and so Jaune did tell his teacher from when he arrived home, to the unexpected celebration going on, To Jaune being roped into a fight which had now revealed his abilities to his family, who now wanted answers.

"Huh, I guess that is a pretty bad situation to be in... which wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been so reckless in the first place, to begin with, kid."

"I know, you're not the only one already saying stuff like that, which I haven't already told myself. I just...wasn't thinking right."

"Clearly you weren't..." Shirou paused before sighing. "So, what do you plan to do next? I still have some stuff to do before we head out, which is going to take some time maybe a few hours...if you still want to go that is?"

Jaune blurted out "Of course I still want to go! It's just...it's not going to be that easy now that my family is breathing down my neck."

Shirou just shrugged his shoulders having no clue what to say. "Well I'm sure you'll think of something, maybe you just need to talk it out? I don't know, It's your choice after all kid. Whatever you pick I'm sure things will turn out fine, maybe not right away but in time everything will be okay."

Of course, Shirou didn't have a full idea of how bad things were at the Arc household, for all the Archer knew it could be anywhere between fixing everything with a simple talk or shit hitting the fan and people were going to get hurt.

The teacher was hoping it was the former if he could pick one himself.

Smiling a bit, Jaune just said back. "Yeah...thanks Shirou I fill a bit better, at least if only a bit...oh right there's something else I need to talk to you about before I go."

"Is it about that bunny onesie that I can see over your shoulder in the wardrobe?"

"Wha-"

"I never knew bunnies were your thing"

In midst of his shocked state, Jaune started sputtering "WHAT! No that's..." He soon stopped upon seeing the mischievous smirk on his teacher's face.

Glaring at the man, Jaune stated. "Your such an asshole."

"I know."

The blonde just knew that his teacher was never going to let him live this one down, oh no, now that Shirou had this kind of dirt on him it was possible that it will haunt him till the day he dies.

"If your done old man, I'll say what I wanted to tell you now. Anyway, after the fight was over and I was walking back to the house something strange happened."

That had got Shirou's interested "Like what?"

"Well, there was this greyed haired man wearing a pair of glasses and carried a cane with him. He was staring at me completely ignoring everything around him and for some reason as soon as I made eye contact with him I felt on edge like...I don't know how to explain it." Jaune trailed off not noticing the facial expression that Shirou was changing as he went on.

Looking a bit more concerned and serious about the matter Shirou inquired about this man that his student was speaking about. "Do you happen to know who this man was?"

Frowning, Jaune explained. "Well, that's the thing...I don't know for a hundred percent if it was him but I'm confident that the guy was Ozpin. You know the one in charge of the Huntsman academy in Vale? I think."

What happened next wasn't something Jaune was expecting as his teacher had an almost panicked look about him.

"Why was the headmaster of Beacon at your house? Did he see you fight? Did he try anything or say something to you?"

Taken back by the sudden and very urgent tone in the man's speech, Jaune had to get himself together to answers back. "What? err no I don't think he did anything he just sort of stood there being kind of creepy and as to why he was there I think my dad and him are friends or something... but he did watch me fight though."

Then Jaune added, "Heck now that I think about it I'm pretty sure he was the one set it up, to begin with."

Swearing under his breath, Shirou asked him. "And you never mention at all that your family was friends with the famous Ozpin himself before because?"

Okay now Jaune was getting confused why would Shirou have such a strange reaction to Ozpin? Sure, he hadn't felt comfortable around the man but the way Shirou was acting made it seem like something else. "I don't say anything because I didn't think it was important, I mean this was my first time ever meeting the man and I don't think he's even been to the house before today..."

Jaune stopped for a second trying to understand why Shirou would be making a big deal out of this in the first place. What was about Ozpin that made Shirou so concerned for?

"Is there something going with the headmaster of Beacon? Do you two know each other?"

"No... we don't know each other, we have never met even once, it's more of...I know of him and I don't want him knowing about me... at least for now." Shirou informed his student as he began to rub the bridge of his nose.

That didn't really explain anything to Jaune, but it seemed to him that was something more of a personal thing going on between Ozpin and his mentor. Of what, he had no clue but Jaune had his own issues going on right now at home so he didn't have time be snooping around other people's business.

"Okay fine I guess but I still have more to say."

Getting Shirou's attention back on him Jaune continued. "After getting stared at for a while I got curious so I attempted to trace his weapon but... it didn't quite work, instead I got a brain splitting headache."

"What kind of a headache?"

He began describing the painful headache that followed after his failed attempted at tracing the cane, and Jaune even expressed his concerns about the hazy things he could not make out.

The blonde was being honest that he thought he might just be going crazy and that Shirou would just mock him for it but instead, his teacher took the whole conversation way more seriously than he had assumed surprisingly.

When Jaune was finished speaking, Shirou didn't say anything for a long time. It looked like Shirou was contemplating on the recent news and figuring out what to do next. "This...is troubling news, I didn't think this would happen quite yet... or at all."

The sentence was whispered but Jaune still made most it out asking "What?"

"Nothing, for now, I'll have to speak to you about it a later time when we are in person. For now, just focus on yourself and if you cross paths with Ozpin again, this is what I want you to do." Shirou then began to instruct him on how to proceed and when it was finally done, the call was over.

Now Jaune could get to that much needed shower he so desperately wanted, maybe by the time he was clean he would be ready to face his family.

He did after all sort of promise his mom he would see her downstairs after all.

Taking a whiff of himself Jaune had scrunched up his nose at the smell.

He stunk of sweat and grime.

* * *

June was now currently walking down the hallway away from her son's room. A lot of things were plaguing her mind right now after what had just gone down moments ago.

Who could blame her after what happened?

What would she say about what she saw back there with the scar? Should June inform her family about it? After all the others had the right to know but...June wasn't so sure that was a good idea.

It would cause panic and who knows how Alex would react to the news when he found out.

Jaune had asked her to not say anything.

Should she do as her son wished and hold something from the whole family lying to everyone? or should she just be truthful and upfront with her daughters and Husband?

'No' June told herself while shaking her head.

No good will come from saying anything about it right now. It might only make things worse.

June would just have to try and hold this burden on her shoulders for now even if it was tearing her apart on the inside. It might not look like it, but June was starting to fall apart with what was happening to today and the women didn't know if she would be able to keep herself together with how the day was turning out.

But June will try and keep on going.

Putting on a strong face for the rest of the family downstairs. She just hoped nothing else will go wrong...

She couldn't keep this up.

June honestly didn't know if she made the right chose on letting Jaune be for now. Maybe she should have pushed harder and not back down so easily but... could you blame her? She didn't know what the right course of action in this situation was.

June had never had to deal with something like this before in her whole life. Not even when it came to her other children!

She at least had a vague idea of what was going on with her daughters, but with her son...

She wasn't even sure with what little she did know was even true anymore.

It made June scared.

Jaune was always her awkward little sunshine who he had trouble making friends when he was young. He always looked up to his father wanting to be just like him when he grew up and make the Arc name proud when he was a child.

He was one of the more quieter ones when compared to his siblings something that would continue on to this very day.

But now...

Everything was cast away in doubt.

Her son was acting like an almost different person back there. Acting defensive, wanting to keep his secrets close to his chests, not willing to speak to her about it not even where he got that scar from.

June didn't like it one-bit, family shouldn't keep things from each other. It was why she always disliked it, that Alex would never disclose with what he was doing for Ozpin, saying that it was confidential and he was doing work for the safety of the kingdoms as well as her family.

"Safety my arse." She lightly cursed to herself not wanting anyone in the family to hear her say that. It would make June a bit of hypocrite for telling someone like Mordred not to curse when she did it.

Anyway, it was stupid in June's opinion, she was Alex's wife for god's sake! You would think it be a bit considerate to let her know what kind of dangers her own husband was getting himself into all the times he was away.

But no...

June just sighed shaking her head once again and continued on.

Coming down the stairs and putting on her brave face again, June could hear Alex speaking with someone in the living room, which was odd, she specifically remembered telling him to get all the guests to leave. When she finally reached the bottom of the steps entering right into the living room she saw Alex and Ozpin chatting.

"Please come on now Alex you honestly expect me to believe you didn't have a hand in your son's...training." Ozpin voiced out his thoughts putting emphasis on the training part in his signature smooth voice of his.

Alex who was standing by one of the couches looking frustrated with the old headmaster and said. "For the last time Oz, I don't how my son was able to fight like that. I had stopped trying to train him when he was eleven, when he didn't show the skills to continue on with the life of a huntsman."

June heard someone scoff at that last bit, most likely from one her daughters nearby on the other furniture laid out in the room.

Most likely Mordred.

The men didn't seem to hear it though or they just chose to ignore it.

"He is your son, I find it hard to believe you didn't even have the slightest clue of what Jaune could do."

"Well believe it okay!" Alex snapped back before looking somber and sighed out. "Me and...Jaune don't...get to talk much nowadays with him always being gone when I get the chance to be back at home. Our relationship is... far from the best as much as it pains me to say."

June felt sympathy for her husband, it wasn't an easy thing for him to say about what had happen with Jaune and him, especially to someone outside of the family.

Ozpin started looking at his friends face in great detail to see if he could find anything to say that Alex was lying but he could not find anything. "You're serious, aren't you? So, you really don't know anything."

It was not meant to be taken as an offensive statement but Alex wasn't really in the right mood to be able to think straight. He heard what Ozpin said as some kind of jab at him for not knowing his son, which resulted in making him angry.

It didn't help that Ozpin hadn't left him alone ever since the fight had ended as the man had taken a strange interested in his son, wanting to find out anything he could about the young Arc male.

Sadly, he didn't get much from Alex.

"How many times must I say it?! I don't have a clue how Jaune was able to do what he did back there. I was just as surprised as the rest of you!" Alex was reaching his limit with his good friend right now.

The stress of what had happened today must have started to take its toll on the veteran Huntsman.

June finally having an enough of this cleared her throat loudly gaining both men's attention. Giving her husband a quick glare Alex soon got the message.

She wanted Ozpin gone.

Turning back to the grey-haired man Alex sigh out. "Oz I'm really sorry but right now really isn't the time to chat okay, me and my family need to have a private talk."

It seemed that the headmaster wasn't too keen on that idea of not wanting to leave just yet. "Wait! Alex, you don't understand there something I must inform you of in private, away from prying ears, it's important."

That got the man a glare from everyone.

Mostly from the women in the family, how dare this man insist that he had something more important to speak about with their father, trying to take Alex away from a family issue that he was needed for.

Alex had finally had reached his limited and spoke in a demanding tone. "Ozpin whatever it is it can wait. My family comes first and right now I have more important things to deal with than work, so please leave, we will catch up later another time."

Ozpin frowned for a moment, trying to get Alex to reconsider but it was no use the man had already made up his mind. Between Ozpin and his family right now Alex would pick his family, the headmaster couldn't change that. Deciding to accept what was already lost, the Beacon headmaster said his farewells and left through the front door.

* * *

Now that the Arc family was alone in the house with no more people left from the party, the living room became oddly quiet with no one saying a thing. The awkward silence carried on for while making the younger girls in the room to fidget nervously.

While quiet June saw that it seemed like everyone was here in the room

Alex had taken a seat in his big reclining chair while the young twins, Lily and Lucy along with Jeanne, were opposite of him on one of the couches. In between, them was another couch which had Mordred (out of her broken armor) getting bandaged up by Olivia who had to keep her younger sister still since she insisted she didn't need any help.

While it may be true that Mordred's Aura would heal her, it was better to be safe than sorry. Thankfully the most damaged that Mordred had from the fight had been her pride...maybe a bit of bruising and swelling as well but still.

Arturia was standing behind them with her arms crossed next to the door leading to the kitchen.

Standing next to the fireplace June realised now that not all of her daughters were here after all and so ask out to everyone. "Where is Rose?"

Not looking up while still patching up her sister, Olivia answered. "Mrs. Schnee said that Rose was feeling tired, so she took her to Rose's room to go bed before she and Winter left with the other guests."

'Oh, thank goodness.'

That calmed down June's worries, she would have to send her thanks to her best friend for putting her youngster to bed for her while all this commotion was going on. While Rose might have a lot of energy, she used it up very quickly.

Now thinking about it, June supposed it may be a good thing that the young girl wasn't awake for this. She was much too young to understand what was going on and it would be hard to explain the issue to Rose and have the young girl grasp the gravity of the situation.

 _Tick tock Tick tock Tick tock_

The room went back in to silence once more with no one saying anything. Mainly because they didn't know what to say and how to breach the topic that they all wanted to discuss. The only sound that could be heard in the usually lively living room was the ticking of the old clock on the wall.

 _Tick tock Tick tock Tick tock_

Unable to take it anymore, Mordred was the one to break the silence. "So... where is the brat- Ow!"

She was unable to continue speaking as Olivia swatted her on the back of her head for the harmless name calling before resuming with what she was doing, completely ignoring her younger sister's glare.

Recovering from the small attack on her head Mordred tried again. "I mean. Err...where is Jaune at then? Isn't he meant to be down here?"

That got everyone looking to June for answers. "Well I... tried talking to him, but he was very defensive not willing to say anything back to me sadly...b-but he said he would come down after his shower."

The mother informed them all trying to stay positive while not give anything away about how she felt.

That news wasn't really what anyone was hoping for, and it brought all the girls eyes to downcast to the floor with a somber look.

Alex who had just been sitting in his chair leaned forward, resting his face on both his hands didn't take the information well.

While his face might not be giving anything away, Alex was anything but happy right now. It was taking all of his willpower to keep himself calm and rational right now. He needed to have a clear mind if Alex wanted to the bottom of this, but it was easier said than done.

Alex was pretty sure that the smallest thing could him set off if he wasn't careful.

"June did you have any idea that our son was still training to become a huntsman behind our backs?" The blonde-haired man suddenly asked his wife.

If anyone had a clue what might be going on in this family, it would be his wife.

Sadly, she only had dissatisfying news for him.

Shaking her head, she replied "No I h-had no clue...I-I mean I had suspicions about Jaune and what he had been up to with him being gone a lot of the time but...I could never have had imagined this."

No one in the family really could.

"You mean you had these suspicions and never thought to tell me or do anything?"

June shot a small glare at the only man in the room. "Don't give me that Alexander Arc, it's hard to keep track of everything going on in this family when six of our daughters are pursuing the life of a huntress. Raising a young four-year-old girl who needs to be kept an eye on and my own Husband gone doing who knows what for how long for that old headmaster of yours."

There was a pause before the women kept going. "So, forgive me if I have found it hard to keep a constant eye on Jaune when he's gone and he won't even say anything to me. At least I had an idea something wasn't right, _you're_ the one who's completely oblivious to what was going on around him."

Alex's face fell at that comment and looked stricken with guilt. "Your right...I'm sorry, that was inconsiderate and hypocritical of me I shouldn't have said that. I'm taking my frustration out on you when I shouldn't...it's just, I'm really confused right now about our son."

He wasn't the only one.

It looked like the heat between the married couple had died down for now.

"I'm still not sure how Jaune was able to do the things he did back there" June stated biting her lower lip.

"Jaune must have found someone to train him" Mordred concluded gritting her teeth. "None of us helped him, and there is no way he could have gotten that good on his own it's just not feasible, it would have taken years for him under someone's tutelage to get that good."

Alex unconsciously gripped his armrest when he listens to that.

It made sense to Alex there was no way his son could have gotten that good on his own. He trained Jaune for two years before it was clear it wasn't going to work out. His son couldn't even get the stances and footwork right back then and don't even get him started on Jaune's defence and sword swings, so yeah Alex had a hard time buying his son had done what he did with no help at all.

Which means someone had been instructing Jaune on how to fight.

But who?

Alex was taken away from his thoughts when Lily spoke up to Mordred teasingly. "Are you just saying that because you're still upset that you got your ass handed to you by Jaune of all people?"

That smartass remark set off the third oldest daughter's temper. "I don't get my ass handed to me alright you little brat, I just got caught off guard is all. It not like I was expecting Jaune to be able to make exploding fucking swords now did I?"

"Mordred!" both parents yelled at their daughter for cursing.

"What!" The girl yelled back at them, not caring if they were upset with her chose of language.

Alex and June sighed, Mordred always seemed to have no filter on what she said and just did as she pleased.

"Looking passed Mordred's crude choice of words, she does raise another interesting subject." Arturia who had been observing everyone picking not to speak until now.

Everyone listened to what she had to say as Arturia held her chin in a thinking pose exclaiming. "Jaune's control over his semblance was...incredible, it showed itself to be capable of doing many things with how he was able to make produce an endless supply of weapons for himself and what they could do... it's almost concerning."

It was true from what the family had seen, Jaune's semblance had the potential to be very powerful. Mordred could attest to that by rubbing her chest as she felt a bit of phantom pain from where the impact of that arrow thing had hit her. Sure, her armor had protected her, but that didn't mean that the attack didn't hurt like a bitch.

"Yeah I can't argue with you there for once but...how did he get his aura unlocked in the first place? I mean, none of us did it and I doubt Jaune did that on his own...So, what I said about someone helping him is the only thing that makes any real sense." Mordred spoke back raising even more questions about their brother.

They were all starting to pile up. Had the only Son of Alex found someone to unlock his aura and if they had, why?

"I asked about his Aura" June suddenly spoke recalling what had happened in Jaune's room with discomfort.

Everyone in the room perked up at that. "Well I didn't get much from him, but...Jaune didn't seem to know what Aura was when I asked him about it along with his semblance. He called it...Prana for some reason...I d-don't know if he was trying to throw me off by making stuff up, but... do any of you know about something like this?"

It may be worth a shot in asking others to see if they had any clue as to what was going on with this 'Prana' thing.

While the older people in the room looked confused and had no idea, the three younger siblings Jeanne, Lily, and Lucy were whispering to each other.

After a few quiet words, Jeanne raised her arm up slowly gaining everyone's attention on the young girl.

"Err I um... we sort of remember him asking about something like that to us once. We didn't really understand what he was on about at the time. Something to do with how did we effectively... use our Prana streams and conserve it I think?"

'Prana what?' Was what was going through the older sister's heads and Alex's at that one.

Alex inquired further about this information from his little girl wanting to get what little he could. "How long ago would you say that was?"

Jeanne looked uncertain with her. "I don't know...three or maybe four years ago? But... I can't be sure, it was a long time ago."

June looked shocked at this information. "You're saying that what's going with your brother goes back that long? When he could have been as young as twelve? W-why didn't you say anything about it, you didn't think any of it wasn't odd!?"

June's voice got bit louder near the end not being able to handle that her other children may have known what was going on or weren't at least somewhat suspicious with their brother's odd questions at the time.

Lucy panicked at the line of questions along with her twin and blurted out. "We don't know why we didn't say anything, we just thought he was making stuff up! How were we meant to know he was on about Aura?"

"June she's right they had no way of knowing." Alex calmed his wife down.

Seeing his wife stop from taking it any further Alex was still confused on something. "What I don't understand is how can Jaune not know what Aura is, but still have knowledge of what a semblance is?"

Mordred shrugging her shoulder attempted to answer that with a bit of humor. "Dunno, maybe Jaune just has a shit teacher."

Alex frowned at that.

That didn't make any sense, how could Jaune know one but not the other? Who was teaching his son these things? Alex had no idea but clearly, they weren't well versed. Aura was the universal name that every Huntsman from the kingdoms should know. What kind of Huntsman was teaching his son this nonsense to begin with?

It was Ridiculous.

Clearly, there were not suited for teaching if they were feeding out false information.

"Maybe it's something much different than that." Olivia lectured to everyone now finally done with patching Mordred up.

"Huh?" Was pretty much everyone's reply to the oldest daughter in the Arc family.

Rolling her eye, "What I mean is that we didn't always call it Aura, that's just the name that everyone in Kingdoms has agreed upon years ago to make it simpler for everyone in this modern day. According to record, there were many different names for what we call Aura back long ago before people had formed the four kingdoms, when mankind was living in more isolated groups trying to survive day to day."

Scientist and scholars still argued about what Aura really was to this day since there many theories revolving around the subject. The few answers that they would come up with were not exactly solid to say the least.

Some would say that Aura was the manifestation of the soul while other would tell you that it was magic gifted from the gods that had since gone to protected mankind from the Grimm. Another was that it just mankind evolving to adapt with their harsh environment or it was the untapped life force with every potential person that could be used and exploited.

None these were proven however and most people just picked whichever one they preferred the most or believed in if there were religious.

That was an eye-opener to some of Olivia's siblings, but If anyone would know it, it would be her since she did have a keen interest in history that sadly not many people did nowadays. People would much rather focus on the now or look to the future, wanting to forget the past and the sin left behind in it. Like the great war, the Faunus rebellion, and when humans subjugated the Faunus.

They were the things most people would rather forget about.

"So, you think that whoever had been teaching Jaune might have been using some kind of old forgotten term for Aura but... why?" June found herself asking, wanting to know why someone would do such a thing.

It seemed pointless, why teach someone an outdated and no longer used term? Surely it was better to just go with what everyone else was using. It would the stop confusion with everyone if they all used the same term.

"I don't know I was trying to think of a reasonable explanation, I don't have any way to prove what I said was true, the only way we will get the truth is from Jaune himself." Olivia was telling the truth, she had no clue if what she said had any merit or not.

It could be possible that Jaune was learning obscure and wrong information from his mysterious teacher. Who they still had no clue who it could be, but they subconsciously agreed that Jaune must have had one to get where he is now.

None of them had heard a word of any type of Huntsman or Huntresses living in Dragontail or passing by that could be meeting up with Jaune though.

The idea of some random stranger spending so much time with their son was worrying to both Alex and June.

"Do you all think that Jaune will really want to talk to us about what's been going on with him?" Murmured Jeanne, the twin sister of Jaune the person who would be arguably the closest to him or at least should be. "I mean we don't even know what's really been happening with him and now he seems to be acting like a stranger than ever...I don't like it."

Jeanne's mother looked sadly at her little girl.

"I don't know sweetheart, I wish could say that Jaune will talk to us but I really don't know." It saddens her to say that, to not just to Jeanne but to everyone else.

What were they even meant to do? Everyone was really at a loss right now, with them all having different thoughts on the matter in silence. Some being hopeful while others were not so much.

...

"Are we gonna talk about what is up with his hair?" Lucy voiced making everyone to look at the girl with a deadpan.

That was Lucy's concern? Her brother's hair!

Seeing that now one was going to answer her Lucy just crossed her arms and grumbled. "never mind guess we're not then."

...

"Did anyone here actually know how Jaune was able to keep something like this a secret and for how long?" Olivia asked.

It was a valid question how one person in a family of ten was able to keep something this big of a secret without anyone finding out until now.

Everyone had their own theories on the matter, some blaming themselves for not noticing sooner or being too busy with their own problems and some blamed the times when they didn't question the odd things going on with Jaune. While some people were looking to blaming others by pointing the finger.

"It's kind of obvious if you ask me." Mordred informed everyone putting her feet on the coffee table much to her parent's displeasure.

Wondering where Mordred was going with her theory everyone let her continue. "Let's take in the fact that Jaune just so happens to be gone a lot on them little trips of his. It's safe to assume that the blacksmithing gig was a ruse for little bro to get in that training time with his mysterious teacher."

She stopped for a moment for everyone to catch up with her.

"And from what Jeanne and the twins said earlier about Jaune talking to them about whatever it was around three or four years ago..."

Mordred then turned her head to her father with a nasty grin on her face. "That just so happen to line up around the time you decided to stop his training, doesn't it? If I remember correctly."

The others were now looking to Alex recalling around that time when he said that he would no longer be continuing with his son's Huntsman training.

Narrowing his eyes, the father of eight spoke slowly to Mordred. "Are you trying to say it's my fault for all that's happened today?"

"Well I don't know about that, but...I don't think it's a coincidence. Maybe if you had listened to me about your about how you should stop making choices for us and jus-"

"Don't try to spin this into making me look like the bad guy in everything Mordred." Alex interrupted his daughter not willing to sit by and have her put all the fault on him.

June saw the two about to get into verbal fight, tried to stop them. "You two please, don't..." But she was ignored.

"I don't need to spin shit to make you look bad, you're the one who wouldn't let Jaune follow his dream to become a huntsman in the first place!"

"I believed that it was the right thing to do at the time with how things were going."

"But it was still your decision that had kick started this all off, right?!"

"Stop it, the two you right now." June tried again with more force but was still ignored. She was starting to get upset and emotional.

"I didn't make that decision on a whim Mordred, I did it because Jaune wasn't showing any aptitude in the profession."

'Stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT, STOP IT! STOP IT!' June kept shouting her head as she watch the two go at it.

"He didn't show any aptitude?! Did you not see him out there earlier he looked pretty good to me at fighting!"

"I don't know how Jaune was able to come as far as he did in such a small amount of time but when I trained with him, it was clear that it wasn't going to work out and Jaune would only get himself hurt!"

"Well, obviously you missed something and was wrong because he showed skill out there and he isn't hurt, Jaune's completely fine!"

That was it, this had become too much for June, she couldn't take it anymore.

"No, he isn't!"

* * *

That last shouted didn't come from Alex or Mordred, looking over to the fireplace everyone could see a red-faced June breathing heavily with puffy red eyes.

"J-Jaune was h-hurt... o-okay I s-saw it... h-he's n-not fine" The women spoke while trying to control her breathing.

June couldn't stop talking even if she wanted to.

Everyone in the Arc family was worried, the girls had never seen their mother like this before and neither had Alex.

"Mother what do you mean? What did you see?" Arturia asked the dreaded question that no else was willing to ask as her mother tried to get her words out.

"Jaune's c-chest...h-he has a s-scar on it. A b-big one...it looks recent like he had been slashed across the chest and burnt."

The room had gone into silence with only the sound of June breathing loudly on the verge of tears.

The reactions to the news were ones you would have expected. Everyone even the loud mouth Mordred had lost their voices. Their brother was hurt...

He had been stabbed?

How was one meant to take such news that just dropped on them like that?

Some of the girls were in denial like Jeanne and Mordred, their mother had to be mistaken there was no why Jaune could have been seriously hurt. Someone would have noticed, right?

The young twins didn't really know what to with the shocking news so they had settled on staying silent and not speaking a word.

The older one's Olivia and Arturia while composed weren't much better. What was going on with their younger brother was very concerning now even more than before. It was already bad enough that he was keeping secrets but this showed whatever Jaune must have been doing was dangerous for him to get injured if it was as bad as their Mother said.

By far the worst reaction to the news from Jaune's father himself.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Alex spoke with an obvious anger in his voice. Why was he only finding out about this now?

June didn't answer and only looked away.

The blonde-haired mother didn't fully know why she had just shouted out for in the first place.

She wasn't thinking straight.

June just didn't want her family fighting each other but Mordred had been using this whole situation to take jabs at her father for what happened in the past. Antagonising him and when her daughter had said so confidently that Jaune wasn't hurt that had triggered June to shout it out.

It had successfully ceased the fight between her husband and daughter but now June feared she may have just made things worse with her son and everything else.

Getting up from his chair looking to wife with frustration asked. "That's it I had enough! It doesn't matter if he is uncomfortable speaking about it we deserve some answers damn it!"

Alex didn't wait for his to wife respond instead he began walking towards the stairs.

"Jaune! Get down here now! If you don't, I'm dragging you here whether you like it or not!"

Seeing what her husband was planning she got in the way of him with her arms spread out halting Alex in his steps. "NO! Alex don't!"

"Move out of the way June! I can't just let this slide by unanswered. Our son is keeping things from us and you only now just picked to tell us that my son has been hurt!"

"Would you stop already you're not thinking right if you just go up there and demand answers, you're only going to make things worse!"

"Well if we don't do something we aren't going to get anything at this rate! You said it yourself Jaune wouldn't come and talk to you so what makes you think he will come down here on his own."

Alex didn't see why his wife was stopping him, for Jaune wasn't willing to speak to his mother when asked so he would order Jaune to explain things.

"Alex, I know that you want answers I do too but please... going about it your way isn't going to end well for either side so just wait for a bit...please." The two parents didn't move or talk for a while after that was said.

It was like they were battling it out to see who would step down first and allow the other to win.

After about a solid minute Alex sighed dropping his shoulders and walked back to his chair retaking his seat.

June was feeling a bit proud of herself even in her current emotional state.

She would admit her husband was a very stubborn man and very hard to dissuade, but she had been married to him for years now so if anyone could get through to the man it was her.

Alex was back in his seat shaking his head. His wife was trying to keep something like this from him. That his own son had been injured and Alex didn't even know about it!

He didn't even know what to feel anymore, this whole day was a complete mess of emotions.

Guilt, anger, sadness, frustration.

This was just meant to be a nice happy day celebration for Jeanne.

Where had it gone wrong?

Alex wanted answers, hell the whole family wanted answers but he honestly had no idea what to even ask or do anymore.

When things had finally calmed down to an acceptable degree with everyone wanting to maintain a cool head and not panic. The Arc family planning on continuing to piece together the enigma that was Jaune Arc.

But no one else was able to even say anymore because of the sound of someone descending down the stairs.

* * *

'This is a bad idea.' Jaune told himself as he made his way down stairs slowly with each step making his nervousness rise.

After his shower Jaune was now in his casual attire, with a big baggy hoodie and jeans to hide his body in along with a pair of plain white trainers. While he had been getting himself clean and changing clothes, Jaune could hear the distant shouting coming from downstairs.

His family was fighting with each other.

Because of him.

Again.

It was like when Jaune was eleven years old all over again, with his family fighting each other because of him and how he acted back then when he couldn't continue with his father's training with not wanting to leave his room and to be left alone. Only this time things were a bit more different.

Jaune wasn't a kid anymore for a start.

He couldn't just lock himself in his room and block out the outside world because things hadn't gone how he wanted them to go as much as he wanted to. No, he needed to face what was going on even if every bone in his body was telling him to turn back and he'll regret going down these stairs.

But there wasn't much else he could do.

Sure, he could try and leave right now, but Shirou wasn't ready yet so if Jaune did attempt to run, his family might be able to search the town and find him before Shirou and him could leave, which will ruin everything. So, for now, Jaune needed to stay in the house which meant two options that he could see in front of him.

One, stay in his room and refuse to come out like some kind of kind of coward, too afraid to face what he had ultimately brought upon himself by keeping secrets from his family in the first place and just let them fight it out between each other all the while letting the guilt eat him up from within for it.

Or the second option, was to man up, as Shirou would say it to him, and go down there to face everything head on. Maybe even saying things that needed to be said for a long time. Even if this option was the less appealing one.

The choice became clear to Jaune when heard his father shouting for him up the stairs. Even If Jaune just stayed in his room refusing to come down there and meeting them on equal ground then his family would just come up to him instead.

Jaune couldn't hide anything this time like he had done to his family for almost half a decade.

It was like either getting dragged into an area or walking in on your own volition.

There really was no way of avoiding this for now. Besides Jaune was already halfway down the stairs now anyway.

So Jaune was going into the thick of it, not knowing what to prepare for.

What would they even ask?

Should he answer or just misdirect and stall for time?

Would they be angry, sad, hurt or confused? Maybe even if the odds were incredibly unlikely they would be proud of him. Happy to see that had taken some initiative to better himself, to finally stand side by side with his siblings.

Yeah...he doubted that last one.

Jaune didn't know what would happen but his heart was already pumping from the anxiety and his palms were sweating. The young teenager needed to take a deep breath as he reached the last few steps.

'No going back now I guess.'

Stepping into the living room Jaune immediately noticed the atmosphere and tone of the room.

It wasn't good or very welcoming.

It felt like someone had put up some kind of downcast cloud hanging in the air of the room with a cold chilling storm brewing within it. Everything was silent so much that Jaune could clearly make out the ticking of the family clock in the room that Jaune always found annoying.

The people occupying the room weren't much better.

His mother's grey orbs were red, she had likely been crying or at least close to it. The one-word that the Arc son could use to describe his mother was... grieving. Great now Jaune felt a twisting knot deep in his stomach at that.

No son wanted to be the reason for their mother's sorrow.

Jaune's siblings were displaying well...a variety of emotions, none of them good. Hurtful glares from some, as if to say he had done wrong and he should feel horrible for it. While the others were more apologetic and sorry, almost like they were pitying him for something.

The man who he called his father, was looking at him with a hardened glare with a deep frown plastered on his face. His Dad looked...upset and angry, making a weird combination that Jaune had never seen before from the strong image that man always showed.

All in all, the living room felt less lively for Jaune, and more like he had stepped into a wake after a relative had died.

That's how bad the mood of the room was.

Jaune did notice that his youngest sister wasn't here for some reason but he wasn't worried, if anything he might be grateful that Rose hadn't gotten involved in all this. Also, that all the strangers from the party were gone much to the young Arc's relief, he didn't want to deal with people he didn't know right now.

Especially that creepy Ozpin fellow after what Shirou had told him in a hurry before he hung up.

While Jaune was gauging the mood of the room, his family was secretly stunned at Jaune's attire. If it wasn't because they had seen what he looked like in that combat outfit you would be hard-pressed to find anything to show the boy was in good shape. The clothes gave nothing away hiding everything not giving a hint to the toned muscles that lied underneath.

It answered the unasked question of how they were unable to spot Jaune's change in physique over the years if all he wore was such concealing clothing.

Feeling self-conscious with everyone looking at him Jaune awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Err...hey um everyone..."

He trailed off not knowing what to say. Jaune already wanted to smack himself for what he just said, he no idea what he was doing! The uncomfortable feeling, he got around them was coming back in full force.

Oh well too late now.

Seemed like the rest of family weren't too pleased with his first words either. Jaune swore he saw Arturia's and his Dad's eyes narrowed in displeasure. No one looked like they wanted to reply back to his greeting.

The young teenager found himself wondering if it really was too late sneak back upstairs.

Mordred looking around herself saw that neither her sister or her parents were planning on making a conversation. Rolling her emerald eyes, the girl assumed she would have to be the one to get things going if anything was to be done today.

'Honestly, it's like I have to do everything around here because of everyone else is too much of pussy to speak up.' The third oldest of Arc children lectured in her head. Picking to start off casual to not scare her little brother away, Mordred reply back naturally.

"Hey, little bro decided to join us huh? That's good I was worried you chickened out I wanted to say that was a good fight earlier don't ya think?" Mordred put on a little friendly smirk at the end ignoring the looks she was getting from the rest of the family.

Screw them, if they wanted to dive straight in for answers they shouldn't have wasted time, so she was the one who was gonna take the steering wheel for now.

"Err yeah I guess it was an okay fight I suppose." Jaune could only raise an eyebrow at his older sister. He had not thought that the first thing he would get when coming down would be something so nonchalant about what happened, especially from Mordred of all people.

'What is going on? This ain't right.'

Maybe Jaune had hit her too hard back in the fight, she must be suffering from brain damage to be so calm and pleasant with him right now.

Where was the shouting and anger? Wait...had Jaune jinxed himself by thinking that?

He hoped not.

"Yeah I think it was a good fight, I mean I definitely wasn't expecting something like that from a simple blacksmith after all." As Mordred had said that, Jaune knew things were about to start going downhill from here.

He just knew it.

He didn't say anything back to her just kept looking into her more hardened green eyes as she spoke again this time it was a question. "There wasn't really a blacksmithing thing going at all was there Jaune? And don't try bullshitting with me."

Now there was the Mordred Jaune remembered, blunt and straight to the point.

How she said it wasn't really a question now that he looked at it, it was more of a statement.

Still, there really was no use in lying here, it was already clear that his family had figured out that he wasn't an apprentice blacksmith. It's not like it was too hard to put together. His family weren't idiots, they could work things out on their own.

Jaune would not be too surprised if they had already figured out a lot more on their own and only needed him here to fill in the missing pieces and confirmation.

"No... there wasn't." Jaune kept his voice strong, not wanting to seem weak so that he could be easily picked for information. He could not falter now of all times.

They all looked at him wanting to read into every small action he did, to see if they could get anything out of him.

They didn't, though one or two of his siblings looked sad that he had just admitted to lying.

"Huh well, at least you're telling the truth...for once." Mordred snarked.

Now that got under Jaune's skin even if it was true that he had lied it didn't mean that he had always been dishonest. He bit back a response at that, he couldn't snap that's what Mordred wanted she was doing what she had done to get him to fight her back at the party.

Well, it won't work so easily this time.

Seeing that her brother wasn't rising to the bait Mordred role of questioner was taken over by Olivia.

"Jaune, did someone teach you how to fight?" Olivia inquired, after finding her confidence and was now asking the more important questions. One, that the whole family wanted to know and understand.

...

"Yes," A dry response was all he gave while keeping his face straight.

"Who?" Was what he got back in a nonsense tone.

"…"

"Answer the question."

"…"

Now Jaune didn't want to answer that one, but they weren't about to let it drop given how they were all staring at him expectantly.

It made Jaune feel like he was on trial. Of course, no one said he needed to say it was Shirou who had trained him.

Smirking he told them all vaguely "A Huntsman took me on to teach me."

"Don't lie!"

"I'm not lying!" Jaune shot back not willing to let them walk over him.

He had given them something, while at the same time nothing at all. All Jaune had to do was keep to himself, level headed and keep buying time for as long as he could until he was ready to leave in a few hours. Everyone else didn't look too pleased with that one, mostly because it told them absolutely nothing other than the gender of the person and that's if Jaune was being truthful in the first place much to Alex's annoyance along with the rest of the Arc family.

Examining Jaune with a dull look at the exclamation, Olivia tried another question. "Alright then...where did you even meet this "Huntsman" in the first place."

Now that one got a reaction out of Jaune as he thought back on his first meeting with Shirou feeling embarrassed about it. "I sort of just...you know ran into him and he um offered to help me out." This time Jaune was in a way speaking the truth since that was pretty much how it went down.

His family didn't see it that way, and they were reaching their limit with this.

Jaune wasn't telling them anything at all and it was getting on their nerves. What kind of person would think getting lessons from a stranger would be a good idea? Here they were worried about him and he was acting like it was some sort of game. Needless to say, no one was happy with how Jaune was acting. Even if by some chance Jaune was speaking the truth right now, did he even know how concerning and suspicious all that sounded?

"You really expect us to believe that." Olivia spat out and narrowing her eyes.

"She's right Jaune this isn't the time to mess around, we want answers now. Who's the person you've been hanging around with all this time." Turning his head Jaune saw that his father was looking right at him, not amused at all.

The young Arc male needed to swallow the lump in his throat that had in been so long that he had almost forgotten how intimidating his father could be. But Jaune wouldn't cave in just like that he had faced worse things he could finally handle his Dad, right?

"It's none of-" whatever Jaune wanted to say was stop as his father cut off.

"Cut the crap right now Jaune, I don't care if you want to or not, tell me who has been training you." The force of which Alex spoke would have made almost anyone tell the man what he wanted to know maybe even Mordred if he had ever used that tone with her.

"Jaune." looking over to the other side of the room his mother called him out as well in a somewhat cold voice. "Please stop dodging the question and going around in circles, why won't you just tell us what we want to know. No more lies!"

Now Jaune was starting to feel agitated right now. "I just answered your questions, you're the ones not wanting to believe me!"

Jaune had shouted back at his parents, probably not the best choice to go with but it was too late now. Jaune's stubbornness was coming back not allowing himself back down in the face of his angry family.

Narrowing his blue eyes into slits Alex barked back at his son saying loudly, "And why should we believe anything you say to us now, you already have proven that you have been lying to us for years and you're not even giving us a straight answer right now even when given a chance."

Jaune wanted to scoff at that.

Now he was being given a chance? Where was that chance when he wanted to keep on training with his dad but couldn't because he didn't have what it takes. Where was Jaune's chance when wanted help from his siblings when asked about stuff Shirou had taught him and they just snubbed him acting like they didn't know what he was on about?

His father went on. "Even if what you're saying is true, there's no way a random Huntsman would just take a child he just met on the streets and teach him everything he knows. It's not right this man is obviously suspicious he might be after something Jaune, did you even consider that?!"

Now that might not have seemed like too much of a bad statement, but to Jaune of what his father was insinuating was downright close to heresy to him. Which was saying that Shirou was using him for something!

'Shirou would never do that to me!' Jaune shouted to himself. The man was not only his teacher but his friend for crying out loud.

Shirou had helped him come so far which would have been impossible on his own. Nearly everything about what made Jaune how he was now had something that could link back to the man who took him under his wing when no one else would.

So, it was understandable that Jaune would unconsciously dive in to defend Shirou from any type of criticism.

"My teacher isn't after anything! He's my only friend and has been there for me to make sure I can achieve my dream! He believes in me! he would never take advantage of me!"Jaune spoke so sternly that it took many of the family members off guard of how he spoke of the man.

Alex could only raise an eyebrow in how his son spoke of his mysterious teacher. Clearly, his son holds the man in high regard but...what did he mean his only friend?

Sighing Alex replied. "We know nothing of this man who has taken such a strange interest in you to train and take you under his wing! Forgive us Jaune if we don't find that it's a bit concerning!"

Now Jaune was starting to get angry that his father was shouting at him saying that his teacher was shady like Shirou was some kind of criminal. It was nonsense all of it and Jaune wouldn't hear any of it.

"There is nothing to be concerned about, alright I'm fine." The mostly blonde boy tried to convince everyone but had no luck.

"Fine?!" All eyes were on Arturia who had finally acknowledged her younger brother. "Is that what you call it? Then why are you hiding it? Show us and prove what Mother told us wasn't true."

'What?' Jaune found himself asking not knowing what she was on about.

Jeanne and Mordred wanted to object, but their older sister was too fast for them and the next thing that everyone knew was Arturia right in front of her brother. Jaune was unable to predict what she did next and that was Arturia lifted his hoody and shirt underneath up displaying the slash wound that decorated his chest with bits of burnt skin around it that he gotten from his fight with the masked woman.

Jaune pulled the front of his clothes back down immediately.

Arturia didn't stop him, she had already gotten what she needed confirming. The rest of the family were all shocked in seeing the permanently damaged skin in person other than June who had already seen it and Alex who look to quietly stewing in anger at the scar. Snapping his head over to his Mother Jaune gave the women a betrayed look that made her turn away. Jaune should have known she wouldn't have kept her mouth shut about this, it was foolish of him to even think she would take his side and help him out.

No, he could see it now more clearly than ever.

His whole family was ganging up on him, they were all against him just trying to get what they wanted. Jaune's anger was getting the better of him as he thought about how no one would take his side, not now or ever in this family.

Why did he even bother trying to talk to them?

"You call that nothing to be concerned about son? I don't know who was "training" you, but whoever it was obviously didn't have your safety in mind and doesn't care enough to keep you from getting hurt!" Alex told Jaune not seeing how his son could be defending someone who was responsible for such an injury.

Of course, Jaune couldn't see it like that and he had reached his limit with his family now and didn't care about keeping calm anymore.

"Shut up!"

The volume of which he spoke took everyone back even Arturia had to step away from her younger brother as Jaune got more emotional.

"He cared more about me than you ever did! He was there for me!"

"Jaune please don't say that, we are just worried about you and don't even know what you've being doing with this man." June softly spoke to her son, reaching out to him.

"I don't have to explain anything to any of you."

It hurt her heart to hear him say that, like someone had jammed a rusty nail in into it. Everything was getting worse June was scared how much devotion Jaune was showing to this stranger they knew nothing about and she wasn't the only one Alex was in the same boat as well.

Jaune batted away his mother's hand.

"I don't care if you're worried about me I'm not just going to stand here and listen to all of you gang up on me and talk down to me like I have committed some horrible act! And I will not listen to anything you have to say! "

Jaune's blue sapphire-like eyes burned with a holy fire within them as glared at his sisters freezing them in place. "For all of you to just sit there and act like me training in secret is like some kind of big betrayal to all of you it isn't. You were all blessed with great talent, you lot never had to feel like the black sheep of the family while being the only one of who couldn't be a Hunter while everyone around you is being praised for their achievements!"

The six sisters in the room were unable to get a word in as their brother kept going. "And back when I was around any of you right after our father stopped my training, you all kept acting nervous near me like I was made of glass and gave me looks of pity. Of course, I couldn't bring anything to any of you, you were all busy with your own life's as Huntresses!"

None the sisters could say anything they were more stunned in place by the suppressed anger that Jaune seemed to have within him. Some like Jeanne remembered how her twin was like a few years ago, and how she didn't know to act around him anymore because she feared he may hold resentment over her being able to keep training while he could not.

Of course, not all the sisters agreed with what Jaune said, but they didn't voice their counter-arguments just yet. It was clear Jaune had been keeping how he felt on things buried and looked like they and their parents had blown the top off whatever it was holding him back.

Done with ranting at his sisters Jaune took his focus to his parents. "And you two, what would you both had done if you found out about what I was doing before now?"

"What do you think? I would have put a stop to it like any sane parent would when they find out their son has been doing who knows what out there without their knowledge coming back with scars!" Alex roared with an edge in his voice.

"Then there's your reason why I never said anything to you. I knew you saw my training as nothing but a fruitless endeavour and a waste of time all those years ago. You have no right to tell me what I can do on my own."

"No right? I'm your father! I have every right to make sure my children are not making stupid choices like you are right now!"

June's eye widened wondering if Jaune had heard one of their arguments all those years ago about his training. While Alex was looking at his son like he couldn't even recognise the young boy in front of him right now.

"Why Jaune, is that you are so determined to have kept on training after all this time?"

Jaune answered that one simply enough "Because it's my dream, I want to help people I can't just sit by and watch doing nothing. I find purpose in protecting the weak, that's why I'm determined because people need help out there."

"Even after we decided it wasn't the right course of action for you to go down that path?" Alex questioned on, getting up from his seat.

"WE didn't decide anything, YOU did! You were one who believed that It was a waste of time with my training! But I don't and look where I have gotten now!" Jaune threw his arms up as if he was attempting to show he was in the right.

It seemed his father didn't see it like that though.

"Yes, but at what cost did it take you to get where you are now in such a short amount of time? You already have one scar on you, how long before you get another or maybe you will lose a limb next or how long before going down this path leads you to an early grave!" The head of the Arc household yelled trying to get his point across.

The rest of the family just watch on by the side-lines as the two males in the family argued further. The women in the room didn't dare try to butt in on the argument as the father and son verbally clashed. It would make the first time to rest of family where they had ever seen both Alex and Jaune get so worked up over something as the two were both known for being cool-headed.

The blonde headed father of eight sighed out. "I decided that you shouldn't become a Huntsman Jaune because you were making no real progress and I couldn't see you surviving it, and I was right you haven't even gone to a Huntsman academy and already you have been hurt. Why can't you see that?"

Listening to his father say those words, Jaune griped his hands.

'Couldn't survive it?' his dad had no idea the things he had done with Shirou. Jaune had been out in the wilds and fought both Grimm and bandits.

How was he not ready?

The man knew nothing of him, or what he had achieved. It was clear that his parents didn't believe he could do what he wanted. That they didn't care what his dream was? or what he wanted to do? They just wanted him safe regardless of what Jaune thought?

This whole conversation had been an eye opener for him.

Unaware of what was going on in Jaune's head, Alex kept on talking. "You can't keep this going Jaune, I won't have my only son end up dead before he has even reached twenty. You can't meet up with this teacher of yours anymore, and I forbid you from leaving the house until I find out more about him."

"WHAT!"

Alex ignored the outburst. "It's for your own safety, I don't like this stranger having this influence over you."

"You can't do this! You can't just tell me what to do and keep me in just because you're being paranoid!"

"Don't take this lightly Jaune, I have a right to be overly suspicious. How much do you even know about this person? Why would this person choose to train you for over any other person? What's in it for them? For all, you know this person could be trying to get close to yo-"

 _THUD!_

A loud thud rang out through the room as Jaune had unconsciously reinforced his fist and smacked the nearby wall. His hand broke right into it making bits of plaster and brick crumble onto the carpet.

The other occupants in the room jumped back in fright.

Both Alex and June were both very concerned thinking Jaune might even go so far as too attack them but thankfully that didn't happen.

"SHUT UP."

Their son's voice could freeze a lake it was that cold.

"You don't know anything about him or me." Jaune spat out with venom.

It was beyond worrying now to both parents when it came to the man teaching their son. Whoever they were had a huge influence over Jaune so much that the boy seemed to favor his teacher more than his own family. It set off warning signs in their head on what type of person had their son really been associating himself with.

Jaune himself just glared at his family feeling beyond pissed how dare they try and tell him what he can and cannot do. He was sixteen, they should have no say in who could spend time with!

What did they even know anyway? He knew better than all of them.

"Jaune-"

"Forget it."

Turning around he made his way back up the stairs not looking back at any of them saying. "I'm done talking to all of you don't bother me for the rest of the day."

With that said he got up the stairs and locked himself in his room.

* * *

'How much do even know about this person? What's in it for them?' The word played back in his head over and over again.

Looking to his scroll Jaune saw he had around an hour and a half before Shirou would be waiting for him. He was also trying to get rid of what his father had said about Shirou before he left up a hurry.

'How much do I know about him truly?' No matter what, Jaune tried to get those doubts out of his head. He could not start questioning his teacher and his motives for teaching him, but it was not an easy thing to do.

Grabbing a bag from his wardrobe, he started packing the things he might need since he had no clue where he was going. Jaune put in the essentials like clothes, toothbrush and the like but other than that he had no idea what else to put.

What was even worth taking? When he was leaving almost everything behind.

Then In the corner, something caught his eye

It was a photo in a frame on his desk.

It showed the whole Arc family some time ago maybe a year and a bit at most. Everyone was posing in front of the camera his parents at the front with his sisters and him around them.

It must have been awhile because Jaune's hair in the photo was still fully blonde with only one or two strains at the time looked white but nothing noticeable. If Jaune recalled correctly the picture was because his Dad had got a week off back then and got everyone together for some family photo.

Everyone was smiling in the shot even Jaune himself had one even if it was a small one even if it didn't reach his eyes. It wasn't like they got to do stuff like that often given how busy the whole family was but Jaune could recall the experience being...

Fun.

Although right now in Jaune's bad mood the image seemed to be almost mocking him in a way. It made the teenager want to go over there and smash the thing as it stood on his desk facing him.

Whispering to himself "They don't know me I'm not what they think I am."

Glancing at the picture Jaune sigh and found himself picking it and looking at it closely. Why couldn't they understand? Jaune wanted things to be better between them but... for some reason thing kept getting worse.

'Maybe... I need to clear my head for a bit...I need to get away for now I can't lose focus.'

Jaune didn't know why but he found himself taking the photo out of the frame and putting it in his bag with the rest of the stuff that was meant to be for essentials only.

But why had he done that?

Shaking his head Jaune looked at the time again he needed to make sure he was ready. He couldn't miss his chance no matter what.

* * *

Waiting for the time to come, Jaune had everything ready for his meet up with Shirou. Now all he had to do was get outside the house. Going back downstairs wasn't an option it was too risky that he might run into someone who will stop him. especially if that someone is his father.

It was a good thing that his family seemed to be giving him some space right after he exploded on them like that downstairs. Jaune was still rightfully pissed off with them but that was probably nothing compared to how furious with him when they will be when they find him gone.

Gods help him if they get him.

The idea of hurting his family and upsetting them even more almost made Jaune stop and reconsider but he wasn't in a thinking mood right now. He didn't care what others would say, Jaune wanted to do this and it was his choice.

He was not going to stay here, he couldn't, not now. Jaune needed to get away from them.

But first the young boy would need to find a way outside and so he found himself doing something maybe a bit stupid.

Climbing out the window

Not a smart move since if he made too much noise, he could alert someone else in the house of his little escape. That and it made Jaune felt like he was re-enacting some scene from a shitty running away move people would watch, but who cares if it worked then it was alright by him.

Dropping to the ground wasn't hard.

The fall was nothing he couldn't handle so as he dropped Jaune did his best muffle his descent into the backyard.

On the ground, with his bag on his back, the young Arc didn't move a good minute or two just make sure no one had heard him. It looked like it was safe to move so with no one around, Jaune left the half-destroyed backyard and moved out on to the streets as fast as he could before he was found missing.

Navigating his way to the end of town should be easy enough it was pretty dark by now so not many people should be out.

At least that's what Jaune thought as he crossed one of the streets but was quickly proven wrong when a familiar voice called out to him.

"A bit late to be going out for a stroll don't you think mister Arc?"

Snapping his head over to the speaker Jaune was met yet again with the headmaster of Beacon himself. Standing under a street light only a street or two away from his house.

Scowling, 'What the hell is he doing here?!'

Why was the man still here for? Better yet, why the fuck was he just standing around in the middle of the street like he was waiting for him?

"I suppose so." Jaune shifted while talking to the man trying to remember what Shirou had told him to do over the phone if faced with the man again.

The words played back in his head 'Remember kid be on guard around this man he might try something on you. We don't know him so don't go trusting him for now. Give him nothing and get away as fast you can you understand?'

Jaune didn't question any of it.

He trusted his teacher's judgement if Shirou said the headmaster wasn't meant to be trusted for now, he will follow it.

Shirou hadn't led him wrong before.

"My, that scowl is rather foreign to have on such young boy, isn't it? I haven't seen one that bad since a pair of twins I knew of years ago."

Jaune's scowl increased and didn't answer back.

The man didn't seem at all bothered by it.

"May I ask what is with the bag on your back?" The smooth voice left the man's lips.

"No, you can't" He answered back forcefully Jaune was in no way in the mood for this. He had already had a fight with his family and was on the clock to meet his teacher so he was pretty stressed out right now.

The teenager didn't have time for anything else going on to distract him. He just wanted the man gone.

Ozpin hummed back at the teenager in front of him. "Very well, I only hoped for us to have a chance to talk Jaune."

"Alright, then how about we start off with why hell are you out here right now? It's kind of creepy with you just standing there like you were just waiting for me."

If the older man was upset about Jaune snapping at him he didn't show it.

"There is a business with your father I needed to talk about, but he said it had to wait so I chose to stay for a while and see the sights of this lovely town, it is rare that I get the time to leave Beacon and relax at my age."

The explanation was quick and simple but Jaune didn't really buy it. There was just something he didn't fully like about the man even if didn't know what.

Ozpin studies the boy in front of him. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah, your Professor Ozpin. The headmaster of Beacon...and the guy who is creeping me out because you would not stop staring at me."

The professor had the decency to look a bit embarrassed at that one. "Yes, well my apologies about that, I was just impressed at your skills you displayed in the spar with your sister. I had no idea that the son of Alex was training to become a Huntsman."

For some reason, Jaune didn't like where this was going.

"Your father and I are good friends so when I asked him about your training he said he no clue how you were able to do what you did out there." The professor stated studying him again like the man was looking for something but could not find it.

"I am really interested to know who taught you how to...fight like that."

Frowning he asked, "Why?"

"Because I would very much like to meet them. I would be sure the two of us would have a lot to talk about." Ozpin told him naturally.

The young Arc couldn't tell if that was a lie or not but it didn't matter, Shirou had said he didn't want Ozpin knowing of him yet. And Jaune was not about to give his teacher up for whatever reason.

"Sorry err sir but...I don't know you and I have places to be right now so I'll be going." Jaune made his way to pass the headmaster and the man didn't stop him at all but did say.

"I know you are running away mister Arc."

That stopped Jaune from moving and froze. This man was friends with his father he could easily keep him here and alert his family.

"I do not know why you are running, but I know Alex the man cares and values family very much to almost the same amount as he values his family legacy. Your father and family are going to come looking for you and you won't be able to hide from them forever."

The more the man talk the more Jaune realised he was right. His family was going to find him again even if he ran now and then they will not let him go ever again. They would want answers why would he leave? Why would he pick his teacher over them?

Stuff Jaune really wasn't thinking about but...why was Ozpin saying all this for.

"I can help you Jaune..." Ah, there it was. "I could help you hide for a bit at my school give you some fake transcripts saying you were moved up early from somewhere else under a different name. I could help you become a huntsman and with your... gift."

'Gift?'

What could Jaune say to that? It could work Ozpin was one the most influential people out there if anyone could help him become a huntsman it would be him right.

"What do you say mister Arc? Do you want to come to my school? I'm sure that you would be a great addition and will go on to do great things." The words sounded a bit alluring to him.

It had always been his dream to go Beacon when he was a kid to be just like his dad. If Jaune would have been asked when he was younger he would of jump at the chance to go there saying he wanted it more than anything.

But now...

Slowly shaking his head. "Sorry sir but I have to decline...I already have a pretty good teacher right now."

He tried to be polite about even if the man was just trying to manipulate him. Jaune couldn't just tell the man to shove it up where the sun didn't shine, now could he? That could ruin things in the future if wanted to go there. Even if Jaune didn't know what to do later down the road, but for now he needed to meet up with Shirou.

Ozpin frowned at being turned down and watched Jaune slowly walk away unable to do anything since that could cause a scene. That was the last thing the headmaster wanted, he needed to be careful and discrete.

Although he did say one last thing to the boy as he walked on. "Very well mister Arc the offer is still open, I hope I can see you next year for initiation if you change your mind... and do tell your teacher that I will still love to meet them if they have the time and are in Vale"

It was unlikely but still, Ozpin gave it a go but now he needed to figure things out. There were people to talk to and keep an eye on. Ozpin already had a lot of things on his plate as is and the young Arc had made things a bit more cluttered for him now.

After all the implications of today could mean a change in the wind for all.

Things were starting to ram up and it was a shame that Jaune didn't come with him. The boy had proved himself to be very skilled he could have been helpful with what will be coming but Ozpin would not take his eyes off the young boy just yet. He needed to find out who was Jaune working for and what their goal was in what was to come. That would take planning and divert resources even if it might be nothing but better safe than sorry.

Ozpin wasn't gonna let a magic wielder and the boy's teacher on such magic off the hook after all.

* * *

Shirou was waiting by the edge of town.

'What is taking him so long?' He was starting to think the kid had bailed on him.

Shirou really hoped not, with what Jaune had told him about what had happened at the kid's house things were not looking good.

Last he talked to Jaune the kid looked like he was falling apart with how to handle his family. That was not a good state to be in, you'll probably only end up doing something you regret. The kid at being only sixteen wasn't exactly the best when it came to expressing himself properly or talking.

God knows how any attempted at talking to Jaune about stuff he didn't want to talk about would go. Shirou suspected the kid would get defensive like most do when others are questioning you and at worst Jaune would retaliate back.

Both were not good.

If Jaune did retaliate, he'll most likely was going to regret it later on. It was a natural thing people did, you would say things you don't mean in anger and try to hurt people. Jaune wasn't like that a lot he wasn't hateful by nature but he was still young and had a lot of stuff piled up which the kid would not let go of.

Sooner or later Jaune was going to blow.

If Jaune had blown up at his family that was bad, very bad but Shirou couldn't do anything about it now.

Things were already getting chaotic even without the kid's family.

Like Ozpin.

Now that had gotten Shirou worried especially the kid being stupid enough to try and trace the man's weapon.

It would have been nice to know that at the start of the call and not the end. The implications of what might be happing with Jaune...well Shirou could not even begin to describe it.

"Huff...huff...huff."

And it looked like he wouldn't have to, as the sound someone breathing heavily could be heard. Looking over his shoulder, the white-haired archer could see his student running over to him as fast as could with no reinforcement to speed him along.

Once the kid got to him Jaune was panting and bending forward.

Shirou offered his sympathy. "About time you got here brat, I was about to leave you behind if you didn't show up soon."

He was lying, but the kid didn't need to know that.

Jaune tried to get breath into his lungs before saying with pauses in between each word. "Screw...you...I had to...run from the…. other side of town...to get here... and had some complications along the way."

Shirou didn't show any remorse as he smirked. "Don't complain, it was good cardio for you."

His student didn't find it amusing and looked around trying to find something.

"Hey wait a moment...where are all the boxes with your stuff in?"

Jaune wanted to know why there was nothing with Shirou at all apart from the clothes he was wearing and a backpack the man could not have put it all in there.

Rolling his eyes Shirou explained. "There most likely being shipped around to another place of mine as we speak. What? You didn't think I was going to carry all them boxes with me now did you."

"Err no... I mean sort of? I-um, oh shut up!" The young blonde sputtered about the place.

Shaking his head at the kid's antics, Shirou began to move forward, walking away from the town with Jaune following right next to him.

It didn't take long for the teacher to see that his student had something playing on his mind. Jaune wasn't saying anything but looked to be conflicted.

Seeing this he asked, "How did it go back home anyway?"

It was clear that was what was going as Jaune looked back at him shocked before frowning deeply. "Horrible, I don't want to talk it."

"Are you sur-"

"Yes! Alright let's just keep walking."

Shirou could only sigh as he heard that one, it was something Jaune did a lot when it came to family. He let the kid be for now but Shirou will be having a talk with him later. The kid couldn't just ignore it and expect it to go away. And so, the two kept on walking with no one saying a word for a while but wasn't long before the older man could take the depressing atmosphere any longer.

Shirou would not walk for miles with a mopey teenager as company!

Fuck that shit time to take the kid's mind off those depressing thoughts and he knew just the trick to do so.

Peering over to the kid Shirou innocently said. "Sooooo you own a bunny onesie?"

The effect was instant as Jaune fired back with a glare completely forgetting about his miserable mood. "It was a gift from my little sister that I only put on once!"

"Wait! you actually wore that thing? Pft-hahaha!"

"Agrh- shut up!"

"Whatever you say bunny boy hahaha!"

The sound of Shirou's laughter rang out down the lone path leading away from the town of Dragontail as Jaune attempted to hit his annoying asshole of a teacher. All the while the white-haired man could not stop laughing.

Far away deep within the many trees surrounding the town a black feathered bird with crimson eyes showed a keen interested in the two males as they kept on walking. Squawking the pitch black bird took flight and continued watching the two of them from a safe distance.

0-0-0

* * *

 **End**

 **Alright there done. Please let me know if this too long of a chapter because I think it might have been and I can't imagine everyone reading it all which is a shame. Please Review if you can since it helps me to give me an idea of what people think of the story so far and helps me want to keep on writing.**

 **I am now at a bit roadblock because this was as far as I had planned on getting when I had first started things in Chapter 1.**

 **I didn't honestly think I would make it.**

 **I don't know where to go from here other then I need Shirou to talk to Jaune about his family to make sure I don't have Jaune becoming some angsty brooding protagonist because I would hate that. I also need to show the family again to have them find out about Jaune missing but that's all I have got so far other than just some ideas.**

 **When I had first thought about doing this chapter ages ago I wanted Shirou to show up and meet the Arcs but that won't work now with how things are planned at the moment with Shirou trying to keep a bit of a low profile but I do want them to meet up later in the story to talk about Jaune. I also had planned for Scathach to come in chapter 6 but now...I'm thinking maybe I should show more of Jaune and Shirou for a bit and what's going on at with Arc family.**

 **I don't know.**

 **There was more I wanted to do but as you can see this chapter is already way too long as is. I can't fit everything into one chapter so some things that haven't been shown like the family finding Jaune gone will have to wait for another chapter.**

 **I'm not gonna a lie writing this took forever and I pretty much hated it. Mostly because I could not decide what should happen and that the interaction between the charters and tone was so tough to get right. So much that I think I've just messed it up when it comes to the stuff with the family.**

 **If you can't tell I'm already starting to regret doing the whole family situation that I started this story with, all the way back in chapter 1. While I like these types of stories I know now why people don't write anything like this or why some of them are just bad. It's because it fucking hard to write!**

 **I just don't think I did a good job because I was trying to make it dramatic and a bit exaggerated but at the same time not go into hard angst which is not easy. I mean I have been told that the fights in my other chapters were good but this was different since it was a family fight which is whole other ballpark and with nine people in it as well.**

 **I mean I have no idea how this type of stuff should be done and I'm pretty sure there a bunch of different ways everything could have played out when it came to Jaune and the family. I basically have bitten more then I could chew when it comes to this sort of thing with the family dynamic and it pretty much just stubbornness and the reviews that say they want more that have kept this story going.**

 **When I had first thought of these scenes back when I had stated all this in my head I had been like "Oh yeah I'll have it so the family isn't some type of evil heavily neglectful abusive assholes and instead make them reasonable where you could see where they're coming from." It's safe to say that I was naïve and the reason why most stories have the family be heavily neglectful abusive assholes is that it is way easier to do. Just make the family horrible and there you have it simple one-dimensional characters that are bad people for no reason and fall apart you start asking why they are like this? Or why do they hate their kid for? Or why the hell has no one done something!?**

 **I wanted the Arc family to come across as you know a family. I wanted to show somethings that were not from Jaune's POV and how they see things like June saying Jaune has been becoming distant with them and avoiding his Father which he has but obviously Jaune would not see it like that.**

 **I didn't want the argument to be one-sided which was hard and have both sides be right and wrong about things. You know like a real family fight where there are no winners just people getting hurt. The aftermath of this going to have guilt on both sides for what was said and done so none that stuff where the family finally meets the MC again later and get on their hands and knees crying and begging to be forgiven while the MC just scoffs at them like a dick(Not a fan of that stuff). I already have some ideas for how the family act and change throughout the story and not everyone will be same. Some will fill guilt and sadness, others will be angry and one or two will be kind of understand but will still be pissed off.**

 **I tried to make Jaune come across more as his age with him still being a teenager and showing faults with him such as being unreasonable.**

 **I want to Jaune have faults and also have some blame put on him like the bit about how he chose to keep everything a secret all on his own and now it's coming back to bite him, instead of saying like oh no it all the family's fault because Jaune's the MC and so he can't do anything wrong. That stupid the Arc family has it's issues with Jaune but with each other as well.**

 **I'll try and talk now about how I had Jaune reacted to the family questioning him. At first, people were saying in the last chapter he should just leave without saying anything but I had already planned for Jaune to have a confrontation some chapters ago and plus this chapter would have ended way too soon if I did that. The first thing I tried to do was have Jaune say nothing like some people had said in the reviews but then the interactions with Jaune made it like they were talking to a brick wall and gave Jaune the personality of one as well. My finally failed attempt was Jaune blowing up and shouting but then that all come across as some very angsty one-sided stuff which I didn't like at all.**

 **So, I ended up with what I got with Jaune giving bits away but not everything and getting mad near the ended like most teenagers do when you getting questioned like that. (I should know when writing this I had some cringey flashbacks to when I was Sixteen and acted like a cunt.) I also had Shirou brought up into questioning and having Jaune defend him which lead his anger and planted some seeds for Jaune to try and learn more about his teacher.**

 **Not gonna lie at times I kind of wanted someone to slap some sense into Jaune but I guess that will be Shirou's job later on.**

 **Things I'm not happy with the family bits but that's because of me doubting what I put and the last bit with Ozpin because I was not too sure how I wanted that it to go at all. I mean Ozpin wasn't about to let Jaune just go without at least saying something but at same Oz isn't the type to really cause something to happen without knowing everything he can first.**

 **I do hope this was alright since I really did try but I'm honestly out of my depth over here. Plus doing this has been really stressful and I'm pretty sure I have been neglecting more important things that I should have been doing instead in my life.**

 **To all your FGO players.**

 **I hope you're enjoying the raid because I'm not. Every time I do the 3 BP my mean damaged dealer gets fucked even with the right CEs. Not to mention my phone is still horrible and I think I need to get a new one but I'm hesitant since I'm not a phone guy and I would hate to get a new one which wouldn't run Fgo properly in the first place. From what I know I need a phone with 2G of RAM since I don't really have enough to get it to work without crashing and run smoothly.**

 **Anyway, have fun bullying the banana Oni if you can. I hear there they may be a Scathach banner again soon so I must be ready for it...and if not well that's okay because I found out we get an assassin version of her in a bikini for free on the summer event so I still win and get best girl!**

 **So Yes rejoice!**

 **Also, other banners like Ozymandias and Minamoto no Yorimitsu will be coming soon so yeah can you feel the salt incoming. I really want Minamoto but I already have a good berserker with Heracles with near max bond level so maybe I should save until she shows up again another time. I had also written another story with Minamoto in it or plan for her to show up but I'm not too sure about trying to finish it since I already have this story with Jaune and fate characters in it.**

 **Well see you guys later I guess if this chapter didn't ruin everything then hopefully I will someday have another one out since I have been trying to at least do this monthly but don't hold me to that.**

* * *

 **(Previews)**

'What how-' his minded halted.

Staring at the picture Shirou couldn't help but feel his jaw drop and felt small pain go off within himself as he saw the familiar finely textured blonde hair that had once sparkled like gold dust to him. Her eyes were the same color as well with them being a deep emerald green and even though it just pictured the women still gave off a presence of elegance many could never hope to match.

'Arturia?' Shirou questioned out to no one in disbelief.

He couldn't fully believe what he seeing but right there in the photo she was there standing within the big family of blondes with his student standing right next to her. How was it possible? Could she be the same Arturia that he remembered, the one who had fought in the grail war?

Did Shirou dare get his hopes up?

'NO! That's impossible how could she be here... she can't be the same one.'

Maybe it was coincidence some kind of cruel trick the universe was playing on him. Although that's what Shirou told himself he still could not take his gaze away from the photo.

After all Arturia and the one in the picture looked near identical.

'Except this one looks a bit older...and she a huge pair of ti-'

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"Were you just starting at my sister's breasts?!"

 **End of preview (Please note that this may change or might not show up at all in another chapter if I change my mind.)**


	6. C6Discovery,Guilt,Questions and Monsters

**Authors notes**

 **Hey...I'm back with this story again.**

 **After it being way too long since I last updated it. The reasons why are a bunch of different things, first was I took like a week break from this story since I was finding it very hard to write it and I kept getting stressed about small shit with it. I also needed to work out and plan where to go next from the last chapter and set myself new goals to reach in this story. I got to thank Jacks when he reviewed chapter 5 when it came out since I really wasn't sure how handle things next when it came to figure where I should go. So, thanks Jacks I have now thought of another two goals to reach in this story, one very close one in a few chapters and another one long ahead in the story. It also made me think more about the RWBY side of this story since I do think that the Fate stuff is going to possible be overshadowing it a bit.**

 **I was also slow in getting this done because I busted my right wrist playing football when I went in goals around July which wasn't fun. Then other things came along that made get me distracted like E3 which sadly didn't show much stuff that I was interested in other then Devil may Cry 5 which I'm hyped for next year along with the RE 2 remake. I was kind of let down when Bethesda showed off their new fallout game with it being online since I love the fallout series with New Vegas being one of favourite games of all times.**

 **Anyway, I'm surprised this story reached over 1,000 favourites now, it really blows my mind. I wished I could have uploaded this chapter much earlier like I wanted but I kept finding myself not happy with what I was writing. I've been worried about updating this story because I keep thinking I'm going to ruin it, this was my first story and it got received very positively with it somehow getting over 1000 follows and 300 reviews.**

 **I just really don't want to mess this story up, you know? I'll probably will in the end though since I doubt I can keep this goign without slipping up, heck I already done that with some of the other chapters in this story.**

 **But whatever you don't want to read this note you want the story.**

 **A big thanks to Grim of Brennus Hope again for going over this for me as well as Lord owl for doing the same. Without them taking the time out of there days I'm sure this story would be a completed mess if they didn't spot a lot of mistakes. Plus, thanks to Lord Rikudou for encouraging me to keep going on. **

**The same to all the kind reviews that helped fuel me to stay with this story when I have doubts.**

"Talking"

'T _houghts_ '

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – Discovery, Guilt, Questions and Monsters.**

 **Town of Dragontail, Arc household**

In the kitchen, the lights were switched off within the large, mostly white room containing a family table with a fridge nearby, along with a bunch of different kitchen cupboards next to it. Even though the room was dark, it was slowly beginning to brighten up as morning light crept in through a window.

The sun was rising up, signalling the start of a new day for everyone. Many people would still be sleeping in their beds right about now and would not be getting up and about until a few moments had passed as they still wanted to enjoy the peaceful bliss of sleep.

Unfortunately for Alex, who was sitting down in the kitchen all alone, sleep was a luxury he was depriving himself of at this very moment while the rest his family was fast asleep trying to recuperate and recover from all the drama that had happened yesterday.

After Jaune had exploded on them and left the living room, the rest of the Arc family had been left in a stunned state. It had probably taken a good ten minutes before anyone in the room spoke another word to each, and when they did, it had devolved into what you would have expected after a family fight like that.

People started arguing amongst themselves about what to do next, such as whether they should follow Jaune up to his room or let him be for now. Then Alex's daughters started bickering amongst each other about how some were too aggressive when talking to their brother during the questioning while the other half said they were being too soft on him and that Jaune shouldn't throw a tantrum over their genuine concerns just because he didn't want to talk about it.

Things had kept on going and before you knew it, everyone was using this opportunity to argue over things that had nothing to do with Jaune in the first place. Mordred was blaming him for anything and everything she could; Arturia was lecturing her younger sisters that they should have come forth as soon as Jaune had asked them those strange questions, which the twins rebutted, stating their older siblings should have spotted something first since they were the adults; and Jeanne seemed to be off to the side, talking to herself about how she could have done better for her family.

It had all been a huge mess.

Everything had got so out of hand that Alex had eventually needed to put his foot down to stop it all to get some much-needed order back into the discussion.

Once that was done, Alex informed his children that too much had already happened in one day for a person to process and to try and 'fix' the problem in one evening. He explained he wanted everyone to get some rest, and that they would leave their brother alone until tomorrow, when Alex would sort things out when everyone had time to somewhat cool off.

A choice which his wife wholeheartedly agreed with as their daughters all went off to their rooms. Even Olivia spent the night in her old room that Alex and June hadn't touched since their eldest had moved out.

While Arturia was using her old room.

Although she hadn't technically moved out of the Arc household yet, she had spent more time sleeping elsewhere nowadays because of her career as a huntress.

Of course, when it came for Alex's and June's turn to head off to their bedroom Alex informed his wife that sadly he would not be joining her, and instead, would be spending the night downstairs. June protested, of course, but after some kind words from him, she relented and left him in the living room by himself.

From there the father of eight had meticulously spent the rest of the night and very early morning going over what had happened in the last couple of hours and what he had learned. Eventually though, tiredness and mental fatigue began to set in.

So, to prevent himself from dozing off, Alex had moved over into the kitchen and made himself some strong coffee in an effort to stay awake, and it had worked.

Which was where we find Alexander Arc now.

Sitting down on a chair, he stared deeply into his fifth cup of caffeine like it was somehow going to answer his unasked questions. He was sure Oobleck would be proud right now if he was here to see the amount of caffeine Alex had consumed.

"Not how I envisioned spending my time off," The veteran huntsman chuckled to himself in as much good humor as he could muster.

One of the few times he actually gets to escape from the horrid back-breaking work and long scavenger hunt missions that Oz had him chasing all the time, and what happens? The biggest family fight that Alex had ever faced and the best part was he had no clue what to do.

Sure, there had been disputes before here and there throughout the years with the Arc family, but nothing on this scale. There was just so much that just kept piling up. First, there was Jaune keeping secrets and lying to everyone, and then to his mysterious new skills and teacher, and then to top it all off, his son had sustained a horrible wound- one that would permanently scar him for life.

Just thinking about all that again in quick succession made Alex's left hand ball up into a fist as anger bubbled within him before being swiftly extinguished. Taking a deep breath, Alex closed his now baggy eyes that showed how long he had been awake and rubbed them as he contemplated.

There was no point in getting angry again and losing his cool. Alex had let that happen early when Jaune had come down to talk and look at how that turned out. Letting his emotions rule him wasn't going to do anything and besides...he was too exhausted to even bother as it would just waste energy.

Alex was going to need whatever strength he had left for when he would go and talk with Jaune. That had been probably what the old blonde spent nearly as much time thinking about while going over everything that had happened.

What to say to his son?

'It's such a simple thing, yet when I try and imagine what I want to say to him, I...'

Alex draws a blank each time as he goes over every way that talking one on one with his son could go, and they all end up going horribly. He didn't know where to start the conversation, or how he could get Jaune to see why Alex had made the choices that he did. It's not like he had much experience with this sort of thing as there was no training that could teach him how to reach an understanding with an emotional teenage child who most likely wouldn't even listen to you.

Heck, that might be the only thing Alex had ever learned from all his times arguing with Mordred.

No matter how hard you tried to make them understand things and have them do what is for the best, your children will mostly won't even listen to the reasons for why you made the choices that you did and will at times even deliberately go against your wishes.

Alex had been trying to get him and Mordred on better terms for years now, but that never seemed to be going anywhere as she blamed everything on him. It really made Alex miss the day when Mordred was younger and the two of them got along better, the head of the arc family could still recall the happy toothy grin on Mordred's face when he had gifted her the sword custom-made for her that he modelled off an old artefact sword he had found ages ago on one of his many missions for Ozpin.

She still used the thing to this day even if Mordred made her little adjustments to it.

That was all back when she was still his little girl, before she went off to her first combat school.

"No..." Shaking his head away from those happier memories of his third eldest. "...I can't get lost in the past- gotta focus on what's going on now. Which means sorting out what is going on with Jaune first then... maybe I can actually start sorting this whole mess out."

Maybe Alex should have seen this day coming. He and Jaune almost seemed to avoid each other for a while now, maybe not on purpose, but that didn't make it right.

Times like this was when Alex really wished his own father was still around to help him out like how they always learned stuff together. He was sure his old man would have known how to fix this without causing a huge fight that threatened the Arc family's stability.

But Alex didn't have anyone to look to for advice with being a father.

Looking over to the clock hung up on the wall above the door leading to the living room, it was only about seven in the morning now. Alex had now gone without sleep for over twenty hours, give or take a few. Around this time, some of the small businesses in town might be opening up, but most others were still closed as there would not be many, if any, people walking around.

As he watched the seconds tick by, Alex knew he was feeling something very close to anxiousness. He kept tapping his fingers on the table, debating if he should attempt to talk with his son now while the rest of the family were asleep. At least that way, there would be no one else trying to intrude and maybe end up causing another argument which could lead to Jaune re-enacting his attitude from yesterday. It was around the clock struck the ten-minute mark when Alex knew he was just stalling for time now and delaying himself from going upstairs to speak with his son.

'Come on Alex, you can't put this off any longer. The sooner you get this out of the way the better.'

Standing up tall, the blonde downed his last cup of coffee before leaving the Kitchen. Moving through the living room, Alex stopped just before the stairs as his blue eyes gazed at the fist-like indent in the wall. A reminder of his son's temper that, before yesterday, Alex and the rest of the family had next to no clue existed.

How long had that anger and frustration been there?

'Was it something that had been around all this time and I didn't notice? Or is Jaune's behavior related to whoever has been teaching him?' Alex would like to get a much better understanding of his son's emotional state and learn how his son truly felt about things.

Instead, all he got were the secrets and lies hidden under this peaceful vail that been going on for who knows how long.

Going up the stairs and down the hall, Alex was soon standing in front of his son's room in the same place as it always was, right across from Jeanne's.

Alex blankly started at the brown door for an uncomfortable amount of time before straightening his posture and moving to twist the door handle open, only to abruptly stop as his hand neared the handle. His hand changed course to the center of the wooden oak door and knocked three times.

 _Knock, Knock, Knock_

"Jaune? Are you awake? It's me...can we talk?" Alex asked while putting on the strong and commanding tone he was known for.

There was no answer, so Alex knocks again, believing his son might either still be asleep or just choosing to ignore anything he had to say, and again, was met with nothing. This kept on for a few more minutes before Alex had started to run out of patience, seeing as Jaune had to be choosing to ignore him as there was no way his son hadn't heard him knocking at his door this whole time. Having enough of trying the route of being considerate, he grabbed the door handle and twisted but was met with resistance, meaning one thing.

Jaune had locked his room door shut yesterday after storming off to prevent anyone from coming in.

"Great...just wonderful," was the sarcastic remark Alex found himself saying as he sighed heavily. Things were already going off to a bad start.

Getting annoyed, and seeing no other option, Alex began banging his fist against the door resulting in so much noise that he had possibly woken up some of the other occupants within the large family house.

"JAUNE! Will you stop messing around and come open this door! We need to talk and pick up from where we left off to sort this whole mess out."

…

Still nothing.

So, Alex kept on pointlessly banging away at the one small barrier separating him and his son. At this point, Alex was coming to regret allowing his children to have their own locks placed on doors seeing as it was stopping him from having a conversation to sort things out.

But it seemed instead Jaune was picking to be childish and lock himself away in his room.

He couldn't open the door from his side as the actual lock was inside the room thus it could only be opened one way. Getting tired of knocking at the door and most likely waking up not just his family but maybe even the people sleeping across the street as well Alex put his ear up towards the door to see if he could hear his son moving about.

Once again there was nothing there, not even a single squeak to give that his son was in the room, it was just silence...no wait there was some sound that Alex could just about make out through the door.

Was it... whistling of the wind?

The sort of sound a person would hear when a strong gust of wind went through your window.

The near dead-like silence coming from his son's room didn't inspire many soothing thoughts to calm Alex's alarmingly rising paranoia which didn't appear to stop. Banging on the door more frantically, Alex attempted to get at least a single response from Jaune just to erase his mind and to stop it from jumping to some crazy conclusions.

Shouting out to the plain looking door in front of him, "Jaune!? Son? Can you at least say something to me...anything!"

There was nothing that gave a reply back which only ended up increasing the anxiousness building up inside Alex before it reached its high point and he spoke out in a much more softer tone that didn't seem to belong coming from Alexander Arc's lips. "...Please."

...

...

...

He was only met with a familiar silence once more.

This wasn't looking promising at all. Alex had a very sneaking suspicion going on right now that he really didn't want to be true, but the only to find anything out was get inside Jaune's room. However, it was locked. This left two options that Alex could see in front of him right now. One was to open his son's door by force, or there was the second choice which was just let it be for now as not to disrupt the peace and hope Jaune would come out from his room later, and if not, hire some locksmith to open his son's room for them.

He was faced with either waiting and hoping that everything would be okay, or acting now to confirm whether or not his fears and doubts were indeed warranted.

Walking back and forth, it appeared to be a lose-lose situation for Alex as he came to realise before taking another glance at the door. "Fuck it If I'm wrong then I get an angry wife and son on my ass and... if I'm right...well let's hope I'm not right."

Too forced on his own internal thoughts Alex didn't notice the door behind him slowly open and his daughter Jeanne cautiously poking her head. "Dad w-what's going on? Why are you making so much noise? …. Dad?"

Her father didn't seem to even hear a word she said as the blonde-haired man took action.

Eyeing the door up one last time Alex got into a stance.

 _Bang!_

"Aaaah!" Jeanne screamed in fright as her father with one strong kick broke the small lock preventing him entrance...along with breaking the whole door and frame with it but Alex could easily get that repaired as it was not like he was short on money.

* * *

Ignoring the fact that he just scared one of his children, he rushed into his son's room to see everything looked the same as when he last saw Jaune's room. The bed was neatly done as expected from how Jaune liked keeping things clean; and the desk on the other side of the room was in the same place, along with the wardrobe and other furniture. All of his son's accessories were where they were meant to be with the posters hanging off the walls, the TV across from the bed and a guitar placed on a unused chair. The door leading to the bathroom was open as well, but all that seemed to fade away from the man of the family as realisation slowly set in.

The thing that had quickly become apparent was that his son was nowhere in sight and the room showed no evidence of Jaune at all being in the house, but the worst thing which had all but filled Alex's heart with dread was the window wide open in front of him, allowing a draft to enter, causing the curtains to wildly blow around.

'No...h-he didn't...he wouldn't.'

Panic and worry set in completely as Alex's body and emotions tried to catch up with what his mind had already pieced together.

Jaune wasn't in his room.

His son was gone.

Jeanne watches on from her doorway as her father seemed to be shaking in rage and anger as he stood in the middle of her twin's room. She had already been worried after being woken up abruptly by her dad's shouting and banging on her brother's door, but the anxiety within her went up after witnessing him break down the door without even hearing a complaint from Jaune as their father forced himself in.

But the young teenage girl didn't dare say a word, not even when Alex slammed his first down onto the nearby desk so hard that you could hear the wood crack from the assault.

"DAMN IT!" Alex roared to himself taking his small burst of anger out on the desk.

'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Incompetent idiot..." The man continued to berate himself internally for not checking on Jaune right after the boy had stormed off yesterday. He should of never have let his son walk off like that and told everyone to give themselves some time to cool off after Jaune had broken a hole in the wall. It seemed like the best choice at the time, given how riled up both Jaune and the rest of the family had gotten in their dispute.

Now Alex was cursing his lack of foresight for not considering that his son would be in such a mindset that Jaune would actually go so far as to disobey him and escape from his own home using the window.

'Why would he even do this? Was Jaune really this upset and worked up yesterday that he would go so far as to run off into town than stay in his own room!?'

While Alex was lost in his own little world, other people in the house had begun to leave their rooms to see what all the commotion was about. Arturia and Olivia had been the first ones to arrive dressed, and on their guard, as they had seen their younger sister staring off into Jaune's room.

Investigating, they found the door was broken down and their father hunched over by the desk hiding his face from the two of them. Arturia and Olivia couldn't determine if their dad was in a state of anger and frustration right now, or sorrow. They also took note of the lack of their younger brother in his room along with the open window.

The two of them weren't stupid and had already begun to put together the situation with the same conclusion going off in their heads.

This wasn't good at all.

How was the rest of the family going to act upon finding out this information?

Before the two of them could even start taking some kind of action a loud and familiar voice shouted out to them.

"Oi! What's with the rac...ket..." Mordred stormed into the room and her loud voice died as soon as she took a second to take everything in. Like her two older siblings, her mind was already going a mile per minute the moment she stepped into Jaune's room.

Gazing upon her father and then off to window, the rebellious Arc started shaking her head.

"This can't be fucking happening right now...Jaune you couldn't be this damn stupid, could you?" She mumbled to herself only not quite sure how to feel right now before Mordred detected her siblings gazes on her.

The eldest children of Alex and June locked eyes with one another as if they were silently communicating, and then without a single word spoken between the three of them, they instantly began looking around the room for anything.

Their father didn't even try to stop them as the man seemed to be thinking deeply while simultaneously straightening himself up, taking deep breaths to keep himself calm and focused.

Mordred opens the doors of the wardrobe and examined its contents with a frown on her face.

Not even looking over her shoulder to the others in the room Mordred informed her findings in a straight to the point no nonsense type of tone with a hint of frustration hidden under it. "Half of his clothes are missing and his bag is gone!"

"Toothbrush and toiletries are gone as well." Olivia voiced from within the bathroom with a bit more of an urgency in her tone.

"So just the essentials?"

"No, not just that." Arturia cut in, as she stood next to the desk picking up a photo frame that been facing down. "A photo is missing and I don't see his scroll anywhere either."

"So, the brat might have it on him then...we can try calling it might be worth a shot."

"Already on it!" Olivia shouted out to them as she walked out of the bathroom dialing away on her scroll.

Alex could only watch on as his three eldest children were already doing more than he had done when had figured out that Jaune was gone. As the father of eight saw them working together like a well-oiled machine, it filled him with a bit of pride knowing his kids could be so focused when needed and not get into petty squabbles, but it also made him feel worthless.

Here Alex was just standing around while his children were already searching about for clues.

While he had lost his temper and wasted a few precious minutes trying to get a grip on his emotions so he could think straight.

His behavior right now was unacceptable. He was meant to be the adult and parent here. He was meant to take control of the situation and act rationally.

"Alex...?"

Looking over towards the doorway Alex could see that his long-time wife, as well as Lucy and Lily, had finally come out of their rooms still in their sleepwear to discover what his banging and shouting earlier was all about. Alex soon found himself realising that he would have to tell his wife about their son's unknown whereabouts and that they had next to no clue where he might have gone.

He began to slowly make his way over to her speaking a calm clear voice. "June...I need you to say calm."

A funny fact: usually, telling someone to 'stay calm' has the opposite effect, something Alex soon realised when his wife's confusion turned into fear and it really didn't help when she and the girls got close enough to get a better look of what remained of Jaune's door.

"What are you on about 'stay calm'? What happened to Jaune's door!?"

"June..."

"Why were you shouting earlier?"

"June I ne-"

"Why are Mordred, Olivia, and Arturia searching around in his room?"

The Arc matriarch wasn't letting her husband get a word in as each passing second caused her to ask another question which only made her more fearful as her grey eyes took in every detail that she could.

"Alex...where's Jaune?"

She could see nearly all of her children out of their room except for two. One of them being her son, and then there was the fact that not only could June not see him anywhere, but his door had been broken down. Needless to say, all this was not looking good in the eyes of the worried mother.

Alex watched as June's eyes zeroed in on him.

"Where is he?"

The tone of her voice wasn't cold, oh no, that would not do it justice. It was chilling and exacting, striking right to the heart which somehow made it even worse than how Jaune's cold voice had been like yesterday. Alex had to wince when he heard it as that tone of voice had never spelled out good news for him.

"June..." Started Alex speaking as gently as he could but that only caused his wife to erupt on him.

"WHERE IS OUR SON, ALEX?!"

Around the house, everyone stopped moving, startled by the explosion in volume that would have caused the heaviest of sleepers in the family to stir up from their slumber. Alex had to swallow and wet his lips before attempting to speak again.

She was not going to take this well.

"I don't know."

"You...don't know." June parroted him as her hands had already balled up into fists while her body now shook in worry, fear, anger and a bunch of other feelings she couldn't begin to name out loud as they all seemed to mix together. How could her husband not know? They saw Jaune storm off last night to his room and they had agreed to leave him be so that everyone could sort things out tomorrow after she had cooked up breakfast for everyone.

June had already imagined how it would been with all of them around the family table, just like old times, before half her children had gone off on their own to live their own lives.

It was going to be a calm and civilised discussion, nothing like the shouting match that yesterday had turned out to be. A conversation where they would sort out their problems by actually talking and listening to one another instead screaming down each other's throats. Maybe that was too wishful and naïve on June's part but it was better than assuming there was no hope for this family and that they would be at odds forever.

Alex, unaware of what his wife was envisioning, began trying to explain everything he could to her. "I don't know alright... I came upstairs at the start of the morning with the intent of talking with Jaune, but instead, I was met with silence and a locked door. So, I started banging on it and shouting, but I started to get suspicious and after I got no response for, I took a risk and kicked the door down to find the window wide open and Jaune gone, nowhere in sight."

"Your wrong! He has to be somewhere else in the house then." He husband had to be mistaken. Their son couldn't just be missing it had only been less than a day before the argument.

"June he's not in house alright!" Alex told her with regret. "His door was still locked and he never opened it after the fight yesterday. Jaune... must have left by escaping through the window or something along with his bag and taking some clothes with him when he walked off."

"W-What...no he's...h-he can't we..." The words that left June's mouth became a jumbled mess as the news sank in painfully for the mother of eight.

A short silence followed after that but it only lasted a few moments before a shriek full of sorrow and anger the likes of which neither Alex or the Arc girls had ever heard come from their mother. Going on instinct Alex moved in and pulled June into his chest which muffled her cry as he hugged her and stroked her hair in some vain attempt to make her stop as he whispered comforting words into her ear that things would be alright.

"Alex..." She cried out his name while her face was still buried in his chest.

"I know. I promise I'll sort this out and find him. He couldn't have gone far." It was more than likely that their son was still in Dragonstail if Jaune was running away on impulse without a plan. He shouldn't have much money with him either, so he couldn't have gone far.

"He's more than likely still somewhere in town trying to get back at us for yesterday. There no need to freak out. We'll find him." Alex tried to consul his emotional wife in a soothing voice.

Keyword being tried.

"What are you saying 'don't freak out'?! Our SON is not in the house and we have no idea where he could have run off to."

Alex really wanted to take a step back, but his wife had him in a tight grip.

"So, I'll 'calm down' when I know where my son is!"

 _*Click*_

The tension and near depressing atmosphere was soon cut as the final door near the end of the hallway opened up and out come the youngest member of the Arc family Rose still in her pyjamas.

"M-Mom...dad what's going on? Why are you all yelling at each other?"

The small tiny platinum-blonde girl asked her parents while rubbing one of her big blue eyes to get the sleep out of it.

She yawned cutely showing that the young girl had just gotten out of bed.

Thinking fast, Alex answer his youngest. "It's nothing sweetie, mummy and daddy are just trying to fix a problem that has popped up. Nothing to worry about, okay?"

"Okay," She mumbled back to her dad, still only half awake, before she yawned.

Having his wife still in his arms, he then whispers to her, "June, take the young ones downstairs. Leave this to Olivia, Arturia, Mordred and I to handle, okay?"

The mother didn't respond at first, she just stayed in his arms hiding her face until she took a deep breath through her nose before pulling away. Her eyes looked a bit red, but other than that, June appeared strong for the kids. She took Rose up in her arms and gave her husband a pointed stare that lasted less than a second, but its message was simple.

Find Jaune.

June then ushered her younger daughters to go downstairs where she would get breakfast going and they all followed it with some hesitation. The only one that stayed behind was Jeanne who was looking at her father as if to say she wanted to help, but Alex just pointed his head in the direction of her mother. With great reluctance, Jeanne left, leaving only Alex and his three eldest alone with him.

'What a mess this day is turning out to be.' Alex told himself with a deep sigh before turning around to face his daughters.

"You got anything?"

Olivia shook her head with her scroll in her hand. "I tried to call him but I'm not getting anything meaning he is choosing to ignore my calls or hasn't got it switched on at all."

Mordred didn't speak and just put her hands in her pockets, so Arturia took over. "Given how much colder the room was compared to the average temperature, the widow could have been open for a long period of time, and if we assume Jaune only opened it when he ran, then he could have a big head start on us."

"Is that it?" Alex questioned, wanting to know if there was more he could use.

"Yeah, that's IT! It's not like bro stayed around to write a note for us explaining everything and left it on his desk, so can we stop wasting time and get a move on?!" Mordred snarled at her father who didn't even bother retaliating.

"For all we know, Jaune could still be in town..." Alex's blue orbs moved to his second and third eldest. "Arturia, search this side of town and talk to anyone who might know something, and Mordred you do the same in the lower part of town on your bike!"

Right now, the voice that was ordering them wasn't there father's. It was the voice of a commanding huntsman taking control. Mordred and Arturia didn't have any words to say and only nodded to one another before proceeding to run out of the room to begin the search.

Olivia then looked to her father perplexed. "What about me? Shouldn't I go searching out there with them?"

Shaking his head. "No, I need you to stay here at the house."

Before his daughter could even protest Alex continued. "Olivia...I NEED you to stay here and keep an eye on your mother and younger sisters, she might seem fine, but your mom is gonna need someone here for her, and I can't be one to do that right now. Plus, I want you to be here if Jaune ends up coming back to the house while I and your sisters are out searching for him, so you can contact us immediately."

The young blonde looked hesitant about it, before nodding along, seeing the logic in the idea of having someone more emotionally stable and mature to watch over everything while her dad was gone.

"Where do you plan on looking then, if Mordred and Arturia are each doing half of the town?"

A good question

Where should Alex even being to start searching?

Where would his son even go and run to in the first place? A good guess would be to maybe try and see if Jaune's 'mysterious teacher' had a place in Drangonstail since that might be the most obvious place, if his son was still hiding in town.

"I think I know where he could be in town, if I can find it, that is."

Olivia then looked uncomfortable as she looked back at the open window. "Dad...what if he isn't even in town anymore?"

It was something that no one wanted to say, let alone think about. What would any of them do if their search brought up nothing, and it turned out that Jaune had already gone and skipped town in such a small amount of time?

It was a thought the Huntsman really didn't want to entertain at all. "If that turns out to be the case, then I'll have to extend the search to maybe the nearby towns, or even Vale, if need be."

Alex couldn't see any other place for his son to go if his son did leave the safety of the town walls. There were only a few other nearby settlements not too far by foot, and the only other place of interest that he could think of Jaune going to would be the city of Vale itself, north-west of Dragonstail, since it was a big place to hide, but that would be a journey of a few days at most by foot.

Of course, there was still the slim chance that Jaune could have gone off the roads and into the wilderness, but that would be next level incompetence without food or water, as well as without experience in camping out in the wilds.

However, Alex couldn't waste another minute on thinking where his son might be, as the sooner he got out of the house, the better chance he had of finding his wayward son.

The head of the Arc family soon left the house and joined in the search for his son within the town.

An action which Alex would spend doing all day until it got dark, finding nothing, while June and her daughters stayed in the house waiting for Jaune to come back on his own that night.

He never did, and the family didn't find anything that day.

* * *

 _ **Jaune and Shirou three weeks later**_

'I'm starting to really hate camping,' Jaune groaned to himself.

If you would have asked Jaune around a year ago if he could finally go along with Shirou on one of his many 'trips' or 'errand runs,' instead of having to be stuck at his home for weeks on end doing nothing productive, the young Arc would have been excited, maybe even giddy at the thought of it.

Especially for a whole year.

The idea of the two of them doing what they always did by taking out Grimm and helping people living outside the kingdom. Not to mention the fact that Jaune would be able to get more training crammed in to help him improve in areas he was still lacking in.

While most people would be happy and impressed with his accomplishments and current capabilities Jaune was not.

'I want to be...No I need to get stronger.' Even after coming so far Jaune still secretly felt like there was more he could do.

Every time he looked at himself all the boy saw were flaws.

His close quarters combat was lacking which had been proven to him during his fight with the masked woman. Jaune had been only able to do so well against her because of his superior long-range advantage and even then, he was spamming his broken swords at her causing the blonde consume way too much of his energy. His projection was weak in his own opinion as well when compared to Shirou's quality, if you were to clash two of same type of swords made by the both of them then Shirou's traced weapon would carve right through his like it was made paper.

Like Jaune said he needed to get stronger.

Maybe the years of seeing himself as being unskilled and less gifted then his sisters had made Jaune feel like that no matter how strong he got it would never be enough for him to confidently call himself an Arc and someone people could be proud of.

That's why this trip should have been a dream come true for the young Arc.

'Although now I'm starting to think I might have overset my expectations on this whole journey with Shirou.'

It had been three weeks now since he and the older man had left the town of Drangonstail behind, and next to nothing of interest had really happened. Shirou had led the way as usual and the two had gone off the road into the nearby woods heading East.

Shirou wanted to journey to a town called Cleonae because of reports of something dangerous stalking outside their walls. Jaune took a shot in the dark and guessed it was some type of Grimm harassing the locals.

On the journey, they had set up camp every so often, giving Jaune and his teacher some time to train, even if it wasn't anything really new to him, it was just going over what he had already learned.

They covered a vast amount of ground that many other travelers might have found near impossible, but Jaune attributed their speed to the fact he and Shirou had been going out camping in the wilderness for more than two years on their excursions. So of course, they were used to traveling like this thanks to all the times his teacher had taken him outside of his hometown.

Jaune was sat down on an uncomfortable rock in some abandoned ruins with the family photo he had taken in his hand while his teacher prepared the campsite.

'I wish we could have picked a better spot to sleep, this one is creepy and I feel like we're being watched.' It was probably just him being paranoid.

The teenager didn't really know much about these old ruins that were all over Remnant other than the stories people would talk about. Stuff like how they were made by some old civilization that was long gone, or that the temples were dedicated to old gods for people to show their devotion and gain power from them. There were the more cynical people who just said the ruins were made by early settlers ages ago before the kingdoms were formed.

Whatever the true answer was, Jaune never really cared about them and had no interest in a bunch of old rocks laying around doing nothing, but the same couldn't be said for his teacher. It seemed all throughout out the journey, Shirou had been checking out every old temple and ruins they came across and Jaune was starting to wonder if this was all his teacher ever did when he went on his trips.

Did he loot them like a treasure hunter or grave robber to find old relics to sell off to the highest bidder? Was he hoping to get rich?

Well if that was Shirou's intent, then the man's luck was abysmal as they had found nothing, indicating that these places must have already been scavenged a long time ago.

Choosing to forget about why his mentor had such a keen interest on some old remains, the teenager found his gaze going back to the photo still in his grip. He was still unsure why he had even taken such a thing in the first place.

Out of all the things he could have taken before running away from his home and family, Jaune had grabbed a simple family portrait.

Why?

Why take such a thing?

The photo had everyone in it.

His parents in the middle in each other's arms, his mom holding Rose close to her chest with the older siblings being at the sides with the younger ones near the front so that they could all fit in the shot. The young Arc had found himself looking at it a lot more and more since leaving.

Jaune would be lying if he said that this new trip had been what he had dreamed of. Maybe because in the past three weeks after running away. Jaune had somewhat come down from his anger and rage and had been replaced them with a legion of conflicting emotions.

Frustration, bitterness, restlessness, doubt, and guilt.

Those were just a few emotions that Jaune could recognise from the type of feelings that kept playing in his mind. Without a red mist clouding his judgment, the wave of self-doubt had hit the young teenager, making Jaune ask himself if he had made the right choice and if he was right in his behavior back with his family.

Jaune never wanted for things to end up like they did back there, and only recently, did he feel a pit form in his stomach when remembering the way he had shouted at them with such venom and emotion he had gotten at the end, which had resulted in him rushing to get away without a second thought at the time.

'It wasn't my fault they were acting unreasonable and being forceful with me.' The blonde tried to reassure himself that he had been in the right and that he shouldn't be feeling guilt over what happened.

When Jaune did think about how he might have been in the wrong and that the shame he felt might be justified, the guilt would temporarily disappear when he remembered how the conversation played out, reigniting Jaune's anger.

Thinking about how his whole family just ganged up on him, calling him out, and demanding that they had a right to know what he had been up to, as well some of them going so far to say he was a liar, all the while not willing to acknowledge what he could do at all.

Just momentarily rethinking it all reassured Jaune that, in his mind, he was in the right to have acted the way that he did in leaving, but...for some reason, that still didn't make the guilt go away.

It didn't help that he wondered how his whole family had reacted to finding him missing as they must have found out by now.

Were they angry?

Sad?

Happy?

It weighed on Jaune's shoulders what everyone might be thinking of him right now, and what they would even say to him if they had the chance to speak again. That was maybe why he had kept his scroll turned off for the whole three weeks since he bet his family would be messaging him, and right now, Jaune didn't have what it took to see what they had sent or said.

Be it because of guilt, shame, or just simply being scared, the young Arc didn't know which excuse as to why he hadn't looked.

Then again, the deep wilds were known for messing up scroll signals so it's not like he or Shirou could check their scrolls anyway until they got to the town for a clear signal.

"You've been looking at that photo for a while now," Shirou commented, while igniting the flame for the camp. "You gonna say what's finally going on inside that head of yours, or are you just going to keep avoiding it?"

Not taking his eyes off the photo, Jaune said back with a deep sigh. "I feel...conflicted."

"...Yeah, I can see that, but what I wanna know is will you finally talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about? You already know that things turned out badly so you probably already can determine why I'm like this."

"You're right. It's not exactly a big mystery, but you have been moping around for weeks now and time hasn't made any difference, has it? I can't deal with you acting like this much longer, so will you please stop being such a downer, and finally speak about what exactly happened back at your home?"

Jaune would reluctantly admit his mentor had a point, seeing as since time went on from when he left home, the pit in his stomach only felt worse and nothing seemed to be changing his internal conflict.

'Maybe it would be a worth a shot. After all, it's Shirou. I can trust to speak to him about this, right?'

So, Jaune proceeded to explain how his family had been waiting for him downstairs and how they all began demanding answers from him. "I guess everything went wrong when I stepped down into the living room where everyone was..."

Shirou soon took his seat on a bit of fallen rubble not too far away from the blonde as the kid started to talk. The two of them sat with the fire crackling away between them. Shirou's face remained neutral all the way throughout the conversation as he listened.

He just sat there and let Jaune say whatever he wanted.

"I don't know what wrong with me." The blonde's shoulders slumped down. "Ever since I left, I can't stop thinking about what happened back there with them. I keep thinking and asking myself if things could have gone differently, I feel horrible that I made my own mother cry and shouted at them like I did b-but...then..."

Jaune's body posture changed as he kept on talking with his voice getting louder and more angry along the way. "I... think about how they were treating me...like I had done something unforgivable they ganged up and interrogated me! T-Then they not only had called me a liar when I answered, but my dad believed he had the right to interfere with my own training just because he wasn't willing to accept anything!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs at the end of his rant, glaring at Shirou, showing off the fire burning within his blue orbs. The white-hared archer wasn't at all phased by his student blowing up at the end, as the kid vented out his grievances.

Looking into the kid's blue eyes, Shirou asked in an emotionless tone. "Are you done now? Got everything you wanted off your chest?"

The angry flames within Jaune's eyes seemed to slowly extinguish as the boy took a deep breath, wordlessly nodding while leaning backward, feeling spent.

The blonde didn't feel necessarily better talking about the whole thing, but he did feel uplifted in a sort of way to spill all the things that had been clawing at him for such a long time even long before the recent incident.

He was now hoping that his teacher would give his opinion on the matter and maybe could tell Jaune what to do instead of having to figure it out on his own.

Such as how to make this horrible guilt he was feeling disappear, so he could get everything back on track- the way things were supposed to be.

"So..." Looking back at Shirou, the blonde nervously asked. "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" The man parroted, before Shirou then proceded to groan, as if he was exhausted while using both of his hands to rub his face. "I think I'm starting to become your damn personal therapist after having to listen to all that!"

'What?!'

Needed to say, that was not the response Jaune had been expecting after spending the last three-quarters of an hour expressing everything that had been bothering him.

"That's all you have to say?! After you're the one who asked me to tell you what was going on?"

"You're right," Shirou sighed out while creaking his neck, "I did ask, and I deeply regret it now."

'You asshole! This isn't the time for you to joke around!' The student shouted internally at his teacher, before sighing in disappointment, letting it go.

Shirou looked at him and rhetorically asked "What do you want me to say, kid?"

"Something useful."

That got another annoyed groan out of the tanned individual.

'This whole mess is too much for me to fix, kid, I have no idea what to do and I really don't want to interfere, since this is your business.' Shirou felt like his interference thus far was the reason why his student was having problems with his family to begin with.

He didn't want to be the reason Jaune's family fell apart.

The bowman was concerned he would only end up making things worse. It was like Shirou had told himself before, he wasn't the best influence or role model for Jaune- far from it, in fact, and now Jaune was punishing himself over something that wasn't easy to work out.

Looking at the situation from a non-biased point of view, one could argue there was fault on both sides, like how many things usually were. Shirou didn't want to give his opinion on the matter because he only heard things from Jaune's perspective, and taking into account his student was still an emotional sixteen-year-old with family issues meant that he wasn't a completely reliable source of information.

Taking everything he could into account, the tanned archer moved his left arm and attempted to give both fair sides to his student.

"On the one hand kid, it seems like your family was being completely unreasonable, not willing to acknowledge who you are now, and instead, seem to only want to see you as someone incapable of doing anything dangerous."

Jaune nodded along, agreeing.

Shirou then moved and showed his other right arm.

"On the other hand, to others and maybe your family, you were acting like the unreasonable one by not being willing to listen to their genuine concerns for your safety. As well as you throwing a tantrum when you were confronted on what you had lied about when they just wanted the truth."

Jaune frowned at that.

"But I didn't tell them the whole truth because I knew they would have never of allowed me to train with you, and I was right! As soon as they found out, they started saying and insinuating you might be trying to use me, then they wanted to keep me locked inside the house because of stupid paranoia." Jaune countered.

'This isn't getting us anywhere.'

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Shirou could see he wasn't making any real progress, which he guessed he couldn't have expected to make much, with getting Jaune to understand that he needed to fully accept some kind of responsibility for his actions with his family in one sitting.

It appeared right now, the kid was feeling the guilt, but didn't want to admit his choices had some part to play in the state of how his family acted.

'Guess I can try to be more tough with him,'

After all, it wasn't Shirou's job to sit here and tell the kid that he made the right choices in some effort to reassure him and spare his feelings.

"From what you said Jaune, you blame your family for not understanding you nor believing in you, but at the same time, you feel conflicted and guilt over your actions, am I correct?"

Jaune hesitantly nodded.

That was more or less the bare bones of it all.

"And I'm also correct in assuming that you want me in some way to help make that guilt go away by maybe telling you did nothing wrong, or feel that if you were to be punished, it could go some way of achieving peace of mind."

After a brief silence and moment of hesitation from Jaune, he again nodded.

Shirou lectured with a heavy sigh, looking Jaune dead in the eye while doing so, "If guilt was so easy to be removed, none of us would dwell on it. Maybe that guilt is there for reason and you need to think hard on your actions so you can move on and consider what will happen if you end up running into your family again."

Jaune himself didn't have anything to retort with.

"I know that you're feeling confused about how to feel Jaune, but I can't have you staying in this rut of yours any longer while you are traveling with me now. This isn't like your training journeys in the past. What we are going to face from now on can be very dangerous, which could end up with one of us dying, so I can't have you be at anything less than at your best from now on, understand?"

"…. Y-Yeah, I got it. Sorry...I'll get myself together and keep focused when the situation calls for it."

"Good, because if you don't, and become a liability, I'll have to send you back home. I can't afford to deal with what I normally do by myself while keeping an eye out on you to make sure you aren't slipping."

Shirou seemed to be done speaking and leaned back.

Jaune blinked and then looked at the photo he had forgotten was still in his hand. The words in his throat were clogged as he didn't know what to say, Shirou looked like he had enough of talking about who was to blame for what had happened, and seemed more focused on making sure Jaune got his act together.

"This was not how I was expecting this conversation to go." Words finally found their way out of his lips. "I'll admit that I was kinda hoping you could help me and sort out this whole family problem for me."

Jaune chuckled when he had finished saying that.

Shirou's stiff and serious demeanor crumbled away after hearing that and ended up shaking his head while rolling his eyes in amusement. "I think you hold me in too high of a regard kid, I don't know a whole lot about family, let alone fixing one as messed up as yours, I've been struggling enough as it is trying to be a good teacher these past few years for you."

It was just said in passing, but Jaune ended up picking up on the last bit.

"Why did you decide to take me on as your student anyway?"

" ... "

* * *

Shirou didn't say anything at first. To Jaune, it was as if his teacher had just stopped and gotten lost in his own head. He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about anything concerning his mentor's reasons. Even through Jaune felt like he knew a lot more about Shirou now than maybe anyone else.

What his father had said all those weeks ago still resounded within him from time to time.

Jaune didn't really know why Shirou had just decided to train him or even too much about the man's history before they had met.

It had always seemed like Shirou didn't really want to about his past that much, and Jaune didn't really push on it since Shirou had never pushed him to talk about his family and what was going on back at home. Jaune had seen it as a kind of unspoken pact between them and he had left it like that since he had wanted to keep those two parts of his life separate before they had recently collided with each other.

Now things were different.

Like it felt as if Shirou was deliberately keeping stuff from him.

When Jaune asked about the weird visions and images he kept seeing recently Shirou wouldn't tell him anything. The same thing happened when Jaune asked about the stuff his mother brought up with the subject of Aura or what was going on with his teacher and the man known as Ozpin. All Shirou said was that he would explain things later when they were in a safe place without any prying eyes on them but... Jaune hadn't seen a single person following them for the three weeks they were travelling.

"What brought this on?" His mentor asked, perplexed at his student changing the subject.

"N-Nothing it's just...you never really told me why..." Scratching the back of neck, Jaune continued as he tried to think of the right words. "I just thought that...err...I dunno, maybe you could shed some light on it is all because..."

He paused.

"Recently I've started to questions some things is all."

"You saying you never questioned me before then?"

"Well...not really." Jaune had never really thought of questioning Shirou on anything.

Why would he?

The man had been there for him when felt alone and was helping him in getting stronger in pursuit of his dream. At the time Jaune had been so desperate for anything to help him with his goal in life that the young boy had never dared questioned or put much thought into why a complete stranger would want to help him.

It didn't matter to him back then as long as he was getting stronger.

Over the years, he had grown to completely trust Shirou, and would follow his word without hesitation, but right now, that trust had been shaken somewhat by the lingering words of his father.

"So, you just wanted to know the reason why I helped you out all those years ago, and took you under my wing." Shirou's voice cut through to Jaune. "Because you are finally starting to question me instead of just doing as I say."

Weirdly his teacher had a small smile on his face after saying that last part, like he was happy or something.

"It's just that you never want to talk about anything involving your past, it seems."

"Because you never really ask as you're too busy wanting to get stronger, and what I did before we met isn't really relevant to teaching you."

"You're avoiding my question." Jaune frowned.

The man sighed, looking at bit uncomfortable.

"The answer to that is both simple and complex at the same time, but I'll make it short and easy that even a fool like you could understand." Shirou jabbed at him jokingly, resulting in the older man getting a middle finger back in response.

"The reason why I dedicated a lot of my time for you is...because when I found out about you and your dream I guess I saw quite a bit of my younger self in you."

"Like what?"

The Arc was genuinely curious what similarities he had with the man he looked up to and idolized, who seemed to represent what Jaune was striving towards and give him something to measure up to all these years.

"A naïve kid who was way in over his head and didn't understand a damn thing about what the world is truly like, but wouldn't let that stop him no matter how many times he got knocked down."

That got a face drop out of Jaune.

"I picked you to help because, similar to you, I had a dream and ideals thrust upon me at a young age through someone, so I couldn't help but feel... a type of responsibility for making sure you turned out alright." The man spoke out in a dull tone as he continued to inform the young teenager.

His blue eyes nearly popped out at that information since that was something he had no clue of.

Jaune would admit that his first interest in wanting to become a hero to help people might have been influenced from always hearing his dad speak about the Arc's heroic family history in stories as a child, and that had planted the seeds that would eventually sprout into his current dream.

"Was your dream of becoming a hero to help others as well, just like me?" The blonde would find that to be insane if he and his teacher were nearly so identical.

That thought was crushed by Shirou's next words and shaking of his head. "No. Close... but no. Our dreams might have been similar, but could be seen as completely different. In the end, I guess they do both involve helping people though."

"Sooooo?" Jaune still looked unsure. "The reason you helped me in getting stronger was that you wanted to make me like you?"

Out of nowhere the man's eyes shot open and glared at him for that question, making Jaune back up. "Where did you get that from?! No! I-"

He seemed to catch himself, and took a deep breath before saying any more. "I don't want you, Jaune, to become like me at all! I want you to be better than me...and..." The man hastened to find what to say. "If I fail at that just...don't end up actually becoming another me, all right?"

'Better than me? What are you on about? Why wouldn't you want me to end up like a strong huntsman like you?'

As Shirou kept talking, Jaune for the first time, was witnessing another side to his friend and teacher that had never known was there.

Like someone had taken off a blindfold preventing him from seeing them before, now, he took in Shirou as the man seemed to age visibly more years then any living person should.

The damage.

The cracks.

The scars.

Shirou. the man Jaune looked up to and idolised, didn't appear strong and carefree like he always did. Instead, Shirou's character suddenly looked to be worn and much more twisted. He looked... broken, almost like a man who had been pushed to his absolute limit again and again, but patched back together to keep on going.

What had Shirou been through to cause this?

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Jaune asked, "Shirou?"

"Yeah...?"

"What exactly was your dream?"

The blonde watched, waiting as Shirou just seemingly started to stare off into the small campfire in between them with dull eyes.

"...To become a hero of Justice."

A small smile broke out on the man's lips, but it didn't reach his eyes, making Jaune frown deeper. Why did mentioning his dream bring such a smile on his face?

"…And? Did you ever achieve it?"

"…"

"…"

"… I think that's enough heavy talking for one day. It's getting pretty late." Shirou got up from the rock he had been using as a seat and stretched. "We've got to get some sleep so we can stock up in Cleonae tomorrow and deal with their issue that's popped up."

Jaune didn't get his answer, but he supposed that the silence itself was Shirou's way of answering him. It seemed Shirou's desire was to genuinely help him and didn't seem to have ulterior motives, which made Jaune feel bad for even having doubted him in the first place.

It didn't make all of Jaune's questions disappear but the blonde guesses he could hold off on them until there business in Cleonae was done. He owned his teacher that much at least.

Although Jaune felt like he had learned something about his friend but still didn't have everything. There was something else that was being kept from him, and the man didn't trust Jaune to share it with, making the teen frustrated.

'Why doesn't he want me to end up like him, though? I don't understand what's so bad about wanting to be like him and being able to prove myself.'

Watching the older man put out the fire, Jaune slowly got up and hesitated, before heading off to his tent. He had no idea what to even say after what was said, not to mention the blonde really wanted to just lay down and forget about all this to keep moving forward.

Hopefully, tomorrow would be a less depressing and more enjoyable day.

* * *

Waking up early Shirou and Jaune had already started to pack up their tents and equipment to get ready to head East to the nearby town of Cleonae. One of the furthest settlements away from the Kingdom of Vale, the town was so far east into the edge of Sanus that it was actually quicker for people from the continent of Anima to reach the place as long as one could get over the sea by air or boat.

"Will you hurry up already kid? We're burning daylight."

The white-haired archer had already finished getting his stuff together and was now impatiently waiting for his pupil to get his butt moving so they could leave.

A frustrated growl came out of the boy's lips.

"You know, this would get done faster if you would help me pack this up."

"Hmmmm." Taking on a thinking pose, Shirou contemplated, before shaking his head. "Nah, you can handle your share of the packing by yourself."

Jaune turned away, grumbling about not being a morning person.

Looking away from the kid over towards the trees, the Archer's eyes caught a small hidden pair of red orbs staring at him intently from afar. Staring right back at them he had a small contest with his stalker before they went away and the sound of flapping wings reached his tuned ears.

'Great.' Returning his gaze back to his pupil with a sad look. 'Seems like you can't keep relying on me anymore kid. The wolfs are closing in if our mysterious stalkers are anything to go by.'

The kid was going to need to learn independence without constantly looking towards him for help and guidance fast. This was why even though Shirou felt bad about what happened between his student and his family, the fight may have done some good when it came to his and Jaune's relationship.

The slight doubt that Jaune now had with him was making the kid question things, and for once, started thinking for himself instead of just relying on the blind loyalty and trust in everything Shirou said.

It gave the man hope that Jaune was starting to come into his own without the need for him to be there to watch over him.

Of course, Shirou would have liked it if the process could be sped up, but there was nothing happening at this very moment that called for that to happen.

'At least, not yet anyway.'

But with the kid starting to question him, it had also led to Jaune asking about stuff that made it very hard for Shirou to keep avoiding certain subjects. Be it about his past, his issues with the headmaster of Beacon or something as simple as the question about Aura. Shirou should have known that teaching the kid the terms he'd leaned for his craft would end up biting him in the ass eventually. He deeply now regretted not just going along with terms people used in this era and should just told the kid he used Aura instead of Prana.

'It would have made things easier for me int the long run.'

At the time Shirou had only been the world of Remnant for two weeks and didn't see a big deal about telling Jaune he used Prana but that had been a simple slip up on his part. Now after the fight with his family the kid was asking him about why his mother thought he had used Aura and wanted know why he been taught about Prana in the first place.

'Man, it's going to be a real pain explaining everything to the kid.' The man groaned.

Looking on, as the teenager resumed putting his stuff away, Shirou thought about what they were going to be doing on this trip because when the kid had practically begged to come along with him. Shirou ended up making up his decision on the spot. Sure, he had some ideas but that's all they were ideas.

He wasn't even sure if Jaune was ready to go along with him on these dangerous missions that he kept the kid out of for a reason.

These missions of his weren't simple.

They would involve Shirou getting nudged in the right direction by Alaya into locations that would need his intervention before an incident would happen that could result in the loss human life that the will of humanity couldn't afford to lose given how weak it was.

It was why they were going East in the first place, because word of a possible threat of a new species of grimm showing up near Cleonae needed to be checked out.

Even with this new physical body given to him, he was still a counter guardian enlisted to deal with any threats to what now remained of humanity. Which were usually things that Shirou believed would be too much for Jaune to tag along for.

It was one thing to have Jaune take out Grimm within a controlled environment where he could watch over him. Which eventually started to include taking out small bandit groups with Jaune while he had made sure the boy only took a small number of lives while doing so.

Maybe he was overthinking things and his concern for Jaune was showing, but...

'Who knows how much damage I have already have done to his mind and how he perceives things now, after putting that thing inside him and... him taking a life at young age sooner than I had intended hadn't made things any better.' Shirou regretted giving the kid the class card as he came to care for him in the years since he started training him.

Even if it was his power in a way, he had put a bit of himself in the kid, changing him forever, even if it wasn't noticeable. But it was like a seed had been planted, or better yet, a tumor had been inserted, and grew as time went on for Jaune, distorting him.

He didn't fully know how the thing worked when Alaya ordered him to use it on the twelve-year-old, or why for that matter. Shirou believed the counter force had some idea of what was to come and had elected to stack the deck in her favor by grooming the kid for something.

Defying Alaya had come to Shirou back then, but he was sure that if the kid really wanted to be a hero, then Jaune would have walked his path and end up losing people dear to him; and then the counter force would have just appeared in front of him in his most desperate hour to make a contract.

At least with how things had turned out, Shirou had been able to steer Jaune somewhat in the right direction.

He hoped.

Getting back on track, Shirou didn't know what he could teach or train Jaune now.

Despite Jaune's high praise of him, Shirou wasn't experienced in teaching someone and while Shirou might not have shown it in the past couple of years, it had been a bit of a struggle to get Jaune to where he was now.

The blonde had the foundations of projection and reinforcement down, with which the kid's proficiency would only get better as time went on. It was already happening since Jaune had mentioned seeing weird images from trying to trace Ozpin's staff.

'What a stupid and rash decision.' The class card hadn't given Jaune everything right off the bat so learning to analyse a weapon had been a struggle for the kid.

Jaune's tracing was not very good in the beginning. He would take shortcuts and make his weapons fast and cheap. A year or two after Jaune, his tracing quality got better and he could begin replicating a fighting style with a traced weapon but he was still not good enough to personally dive into a weapon's history.

Although that looked to be changing now.

Clearly, it still had some ways to go as Jaune couldn't make heads or tails of what he saw when tracing the headmaster's cane. But it was a start.

Closing his eyes, Shirou contemplated. 'Honestly, I don't know where to go next with him. He's already got the foundations of what I've taught him and doesn't need me to do anything for him since he'll improve on his own as long as he keeps practicing and pushing himself.'

There was the option of showing Jaune weapons he had yet to gain access to, such as lesser Noble Phantasms, but he wasn't sure if the boy was ready to take that step yet, not just because of the greater physical strain to trace and reconstruct one, but the dangers of having such powerful weapons.

The idea of giving a sixteen-year-old access to weapons that could blow up armies wasn't something that inspired much confidence in Shirou. The same went for progressing to see if the class card had changed Jaune's incarnation and to see if he had the aptitude for a reality marble like Unlimited Blade Works.

Although that seemed unlikely, but then again, Shirou had witnessed things that were meant to be impossible.

But no matter how much you spun it, that seemed like too much power too soon for Jaune, and Shirou wasn't sure if the kid could take the strain of it all.

It was why the bowman much preferred the idea of Jaune naturally unlocking everything so it wouldn't possibly kill him, if Shirou would have his way.

That's what the class card had done after all, by locking certain things away as it knew that its twelve-year-old host couldn't handle everything at the time. Jaune wouldn't have been able to handle what Shirou had accumulated as his time as a counter guardian all at once.

One of the only other things that came to Shirou's mind of what he could possibly teach his student was more magecraft beyond the basic reinforcement and projection he had already taught, which Jaune hadn't questioned at all when he was young since all the kid cared about back then was that someone was teaching him how to get strong in his pursuit of being a hero.

Who knows how the kid would react to more advanced magecraft. Then again, most normal people in Remnant seemed to scoff at the idea of magic saying it was the stuff from fairy tales. 'Yet everyone in this era don't even bat an eye at what they call "Semblances" and "Aura" believing it doesn't count as some kind of magic. Even though the normal people from my era would have said otherwise.'

But he was getting off track.

He could already imagine Rin's reaction if she saw him, a third-rate magus of all people, teaching someone magecraft.

The girl would either be too busy laughing at the absurdity of him passing knowledge on or be outraged because he was the worst pick to teach magcraft since the stuff he would teach would probably be useless.

By a true mage's standards anyway.

All this was why Shirou had been doubting himself as a good teacher for the kid for years now. He didn't really excel at anything to pass on, other than his adaptability and versatility. It was why Shirou had been playing with the idea of finding a new teacher for the kid.

He had the means and everything else to get one with a bit of effort that is, but who?

Someone who knew what they were doing when it came to teaching heroes or warriors and that could help the kid along far better than he could.

"There! Finally got this thing packed up!" A shout of triumph rang out, causing Shirou's eyes to snap back open, bringing him out of his musings.

It appeared his little disciple had managed to disassemble his tent and crammed it back into his bag, doing a very rough job of it, but his other stuff still needed to be packed up as he was sure he could see some of Jaune's belongings scattered around him.

"Congratulations. It only took you around a quarter of an hour for you to roll up a tent." He informed in deadpan tone, ruining any joy for the boy.

"Do you always have to ruin my good mood by getting a smart remark in?"

"No... but I got to amuse myself somehow."

"You know, that's kinda sad."

"Hmmm well, it's not as sad as admitting to have worn a bunny onesie."

Jaune sighed, "You're never gonna let that go, are you?"

Shirou only chuckled back mischievously before moving over to Jaune's side and began picking up his other stuff to make sure they won't get lost.

Arranging something in place, he found what looked to be a photo pocking out of some dirty worn jeans that hadn't been packed away yet.

'Huh, that's the thing he's been staring at for most of the journey when we stopped to get some rest.' Picking it up, Shirou was met with what could only be a family photo full of blondes.

The first thing that grabbed out to him was the couple right in the center. 'So, this is his parents...Alex and June.'

Shirou finally had a face to go with them after spending years not knowing what they looked like and only hearing about them in passing over his time with Jaune. The kid said very little about his family, so much of what Shirou only knew were the names of the parents, with yesterday being the most had ever spoken about them.

Staring at Alex first, Shirou noted the man had very messy blonde hair which he seemed to pull off very well, along with a pair of strong blue eyes giving off a composed and somewhat relaxed posture. The strong look in the man's eyes, though, was somewhat ruined by the goofy grin the man had as he hugged his wife. Shirou could easily tell that Alex and Jaune were father and son by the fact that his student looked to be a near identical copy of the man, which was only ruined by the kid's current white fringe.

Moving onto the smiling woman in the man's arms.

Jaune's mother June had sharp facial features which seemed to be the only things that she had passed down to her son. She possessed a pair of grey eyes with a glint to them along with straight light platinum blonde hair which could be mistaken for white. Topping it off, she wore a kind warm smile. It all made her to be a mature beautiful woman despite the fact that the women had given birth to and raised eight kids.

That was something Shirou still found shocking and crazy when Jaune had once told him about having seven other siblings. 'Honestly, hadn't his parents ever heard of contraception?'

Now Shirou would admit that Alex's image didn't really live up to what he had imagined in his head from the bits he got from Jaune. He was expecting something more...different than the goofy smiling man in the photo who looked be nothing more than a father and husband just enjoying a time out he had with his family.

Which apparently didn't happen often given that the kid would mention his dad being away a lot.

The same thing could be said about June, nothing really showed that woman was in anyway different in such a way that she might have problems with her son.

The couple looked to be very much...normal, by Shirou's standards anyway.

Just two happily married people surrounded by their offspring.

'Of course, there's got to be more to all this. Something must be going on for Jaune and his family to be where they are now.' Shirou observed before moving away from Jaune's parents and his eyes wondered elsewhere.

Specifically, to where his student was in the photo which upon seeing him, told Shirou that photo was about a year old, or slightly more, given that Jaune's still had fully blonde hair at the time. Soon, Shirou took notice of the older woman standing right next Jaune and he paused.

What he saw was something he definitely wasn't ready for as his heart stopped a beat.

'What- how-' his minded halted.

Staring at the picture, Shirou couldn't help but feel his jaw drop and felt small pain go off within himself as he saw the familiar finely textured blonde hair that had once sparkled like gold dust to him. Her eyes were the same color as well, with them being a deep emerald green, and even though it was just a picture, she still gave off a presence of elegance many women could never hope to match.

'Arturia?' Shirou questioned in disbelief.

He couldn't fully believe what he seeing, but right there in the photo, she was there standing within the big family of blondes with his student standing right next to her. How was it possible? Could she be the same Arturia that he remembered, the one who had fought in the Grail War?

Did Shirou dare get his hopes up?

'NO! That's impossible. How could she be here... she can't be the same one.'

Maybe it was a coincidence, some kind of cruel trick the universe was playing on him. Although that's what Shirou told himself, he still could not take his gaze away from the photo.

After all, Arturia and the one in the picture looked near identical.

'Except this one looks a bit older...and she's got a huge pair of ti-'

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?!"

"Were you just staring at my sister's breasts?!"

It would seem that Jaune had taken notice that he had picked up the photo and was staring intensely at it.

Specifically at his sister's very large bust.

Well, this made things awkward very fast.

"Errrrrrrr..." Shirou found himself saying, stalling for time as his mind tried to catch up with the question.

'Shit! Shirou come on, quick! Think of something fast!'

"No!..." He panicked "…. Were you?"

The face that the young blonde made was what could only be described as a mix between appalled and unsettled by the response.

'Brilliant Shirou! Turned the tables on him and say he was the one looking at his sister's bust. I can't see that backfiring at all.' Was the sarcastically spoken to himself as Jaune snatched the picture out from his hand.

"Give me that! I don't want to ever see you ogling my older sister, you weirdo."

'All right,' Shirou thought. That was a bit much. It wasn't like he was trying to stare at the woman's breasts.

Honest! It wasn't his fault that her bust took up a ridiculous amount of photo. 'I mean talk about big mana tanks.' He joked to himself.

Trying to stay calm, Shirou explained. "I wasn't ogling your sister okay...I was just stumped because she looked very familiar to someone I once had a connection with, is all."

He would never just look at a woman's chest anyway, he was a man of culture after all.

'Everyone knows that thighs are where it's at anyway.'

"Whatever," Jaune sighed, putting away the photo, still a bit peeved. "You must be mistaken because my sister Arturia would never have had a connection with someone like you anyway."

The blonde didn't see it, but Shirou stiffened at hearing Jaune's sister's name. What was going on? It was one thing for the girl to look identical to Saber, but for them to have the same name as well, it was ridiculous. Shirou had no clue what to even make of the matter anymore.

How many people could have the same face as Saber anyway?

"Wait a minute, what do you mean someone like me?!"

"I mean there is no way my sister would want anything to do with an old man like you, especially a pervert that stares at her chest." Jaune wasn't done as he added one more stinger at his teacher. "I'm also pretty sure if she ever did have a preference in men, it definitely wouldn't be you."

The whole idea of his best friend and teacher meeting his sister just felt wrong to Jaune for some reason, like he should do anything he could in his power to make it so the two of them never met.

Weird.

Meanwhile, Shirou was having to restrain himself from making a comeback for the statement and to put the kid in his place.

But what could Shirou say?

That when he was young, and first alive, he and a girl that looked like his sister along with a twin-tailed hair girl had sort of... something, or whatever it was going on, once in days long forgotten?

The kid would never believe that and just call him crazy. Not to mention that it would bring up a lot of strange and hard to answer follow-up questions.

"Fine, I'm sorry. I won't look at the photo again." He put his hands up as a sign of peace while Jaune kept packing.

But Shirou couldn't help but ask something about the woman who looked so much like his Saber, wanting to know more even just a small amount he asked. "Is she your oldest sister?"

Giving him a pointed look for a moment Jaune just shook his head. "No, that would be Olivia, who moved out of the house some years ago. Then it's Arturia, followed by Mordred, Jeanne, my twin, followed by Lily and Lucy and the youngest is Rose at four."

The way Jaune named off his sisters were each different, from the older being in more a plain, or even forced tone, before turning into a warmer voice when reaching the youngest.

"S-Sorry." Shirou apologized to make sure he heard that right. "I might have misheard but did you say another one of your sisters is called Mordred?"

"Yeah." Was the short response he got back as Jaune clearly didn't want to speak about his sisters to Shirou especially given what had just happened with the photo.

"….Do her and Arturia...get along?"

"Like cats and dogs, why?" His student looked over at him with a suspicious look.

"No reason! Forget I said anything." Shirou left the conversation at that.

Once the young teenager was done packing, it was not long before the two of them left the old ruins to continue on their journey to investigate the goings on around the town of Cleonae.

* * *

Walking along the dirt road behind Shirou, Jaune was still giving the man a light glare for what happened earlier.

After confiding his concerns and doubts to his friend, all of what had been said the other day had given Jaune more stuff to think on when it came to both Shirou and his family.

Jaune wasn't sure with himself how to think about his family, or what he should do about them anymore. All he knew was he wanted to be away from them for now- that he needed to sort himself first and foremost in this year out with Shirou.

Then he could worry about what do with the others.

He had to get stronger like he promised to himself, but after the year was out, what could he do to improve? The offer that Headmaster Ozpin had given to him sprung to mind but...Jaune didn't feel comfortable around the man.

Did he really need to go off to an academy to become a hero anyway?

The idea of spending years doing nothing but more learning at the expense of people needing help wasn't appealing to him.

There was too much going on to think about that it was starting to stress the blonde out.

Shirou keeping things from him and not wanting to talk about what was going on didn't help things

Heck, Jaune still had no idea the true reason why Shirou wanted to even head out east to this town of Cleonae in the first place.

Were bandits attacking them, or was it simple grimm troubles out in the wilds causing problems for the people living there? For once, Jaune was out of the loop when traveling with Shirou, and he hated it. Was it too much to know what was going on in or around Cleonae so that he could prepare?

'Whatever. It doesn't matter. I guess we're here now anyway.'

Tugging on his backpack as he and Shirou crested over a hill giving them their first clear view of Cleonae from a short mile away. From where they stood, the sun was rising over the town for a bright early day.

It would have looked very breath-taking; the sort of thing you would see on a postcard, but there was something not right.

Shirou and Jaune picked up on it immediately.

Light grey smoke was steadily rising from within the settlement. Usually, the smoke might be coming from people's chimneys or the local blacksmith, but the amount pouring out of Cleonae was more, like there was multiple pyres going off in town.

Definitely not normal.

Then, faint screams of people in fear and the roars of something inhuman were carried by the wind.

"No... No this shouldn't be happening, we had time..." Jaune partly picked up Shirou whispering to himself as the smoke kept rising.

First one to go on his instincts, Jaune ran ahead of his teacher in full sprint, desperate to find out what was happening.

* * *

It didn't take too long for them to reach the place, but it was still slower than Jaune would have liked.

Coming up on the town gate, the young Arc kept on moving as fast as his legs would let him while dropping his pack so it wouldn't get in his way. By the time he had reached the gates, the smoke had turned pitch black and fires could be seen burning away at some of the homes.

The screams had only increased, but Jaune had yet to see anyone as he kept moving.

That changed as he and Shirou turned the corner and were met with a group townsfolk, but the people didn't seem to even acknowledge them as they ran past them, not willing to stop and inform them of the situation.

'What is going on?!'

There were more noises coming from somewhere else a few streets away as the two kept on going deeper into the town and a smell began to bombard their senses.

The familiarity of it is what made a pit form in the young Arc's stomach.

Continuing on towards the town hall, Jaune and Shirou found a sight which confirmed their fears. The street corner was painted red with walls and floors decorated with splashes of blood.

That explained the smell.

Bodies were lying all over the place with chunks missing from them. One male had a slash on his abdomen causing his internal organs to have spilled out. The second person, a young woman maybe a couple of years older than Jaune himself, looked to have had her face partially chewed off.

The third corpse had his neck snapped, which may have been a small mercy, given the condition of the other two.

One thing all the dead bodies had in common was the soulless black pits they had for eyes, like the life had been sucked out of them.

The blonde slowly walked to inspect the bodies further along with his teacher.

There was one more person, a brown-haired woman possibly in her thirties or forties, lying down against a brick wall for support slowly breathing with each breath clutching a crimson sword that looked like it could transform.

"She's alive!" Jaune ran over to over to her getting down on his knees, not caring about the blood getting into his clothes. "Miss! Hello, can you hear me? Can you talk?"

The woman didn't answer at first; she just kept slowly breathing before her glazed grey eyes looked right through him.

'She isn't in good shape at all.' He thought, as he looked her over.

There were blood stains leading away from her, meaning that she must have dragged herself away from where she had been injured. A large pool of blood was starting to form around her from the wounds that had been inflicted.

From what could be seen, the woman had a puncture wound on her chest along with deep claw marks on her side, causing blood to pour out; but by far the worst, and obvious injury, was her right arm.

What was left of it at least, because the thing was now a mangled mess like it had been through a meat grinder or an animal had mauled it by ripping and twisting the skin and muscles apart. The bone was clearly broken, not it mattered because the limb was seemingly only dangling by a muscle, making a very unpleasant sight for Jaune; and he couldn't even begin to imagine what type of pain the woman was in.

It was some sort of divine miracle that she was still conscious, let alone still alive.

"A-Are you two... m-meant to be the backup Hunters I c-called days ago?" The woman rasped out in a near whisper as she looked at Shirou and then Jaune in confusion before coughing up blood. "Y-You're a bit late...aren't you?"

"No... sorry to inform you but we are not your backup." Shirou told the woman, while looking at her with a somber expression before it changed into an unreadable emotionless one. "And neither of us are Huntsman. We were just passing through here before we saw the commotion and went to investigate."

Shirou completely missed the look he got from Jaune at him completely denying being a Huntsman but said nothing as the situation wasn't appropriate.

The bleeding woman tried to move, but ended up nearly falling over into a puddle of blood.

Grabbing onto her to stop the descent, "Hey! Don't try moving in your state alright," Jaune told her while putting her back against the wall.

"C-Can you tell us who you are, Miss?" He asked while putting pressure on one of the wounds in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.

Coughing up some blood. "I-I'm Heather S-Shield, licensed Huntress from Mistral...but forget that. What are you two doing just standing a-around here! This no place for civilians!" She tried to shout but it ended up a desperate plea.

"Why, what's going on?" Jaune asked her while holding the woman up so she wouldn't fall into her own pool of blood.

She looked conflicted on what to say as it was clear she just wanted the two of them to flee. "There have been r-reports... from the local living here about a monster terrorising them and recently taking a woman away in the dead of night to a cave, nearby killing her. W-When the people here called for help, the kingdom just assumed it was a lone Beowulf or... something, so I took this mission when the headmaster of Haven gave it to me. I thought it would be easy money to pay the bills. I tracked it down to its cave and fought it but..."

Heather's eyes looked down at what remained of her right arm and despair took over her face as she started hyperventilating.

"... I c-couldn't hurt it. My attacks did nothing to the thing! I r-ran back to the town and sent a message back to Professor Lionheart demanding for assistance but I haven't heard anything back from him, then that thing must have f-followed me back here because it showed up this morning and attacked the town."

"What kind of Grimm was it? Can you describe it to me?" Shirou asked impatiently to bleeding Huntress. He needed to know what they were dealing with here before the whole town of Cleonae ended up as just another example of a failed settlement outside the kingdoms.

Shaking her head, she started frantically explaining. "The r-reports were wrong. It wasn't some simple grimm like a Beowulf, it was... I-I don't know what the fuck that thing was, but whatever grimm it is, it's not natural. " They both looked at the huntress in confusion.

Shirou needed better details than that. "You're not making any sense! What do you mean? What makes you say that?"

She was just speaking in mumbles now, looking terrified.

"It did something to me," Heather whispered looking back at them. "...it s-stopped me from using my semblance somehow. I can still that foul dark clinging to me when it screeched at me. I-I didn't know what to do, so I panicked and used my fire dust rounds and e-ended up making things worse."

That explained how the fires had started but didn't help Shirou at all in finding out what he wanted to know. 'This is no good, she can't even stay forced long enough to give us anything. Me and Jaune aren't going to get much useful information out of her.'

"Both... of you need to get out of here before it finds you and you end up like me! You can't h-hurt it and the town is already lost!"

Shirou and Jaune locked gazes with one another.

They couldn't do that. There were still a lot of people in the town that needed their help. If Jaune just left the people here to defend themselves, whatever was attacking would surely kill them all.

That was unacceptable. He couldn't just walk away.

They had to find whatever the cause was and eliminate it.

"Can't you do anything for her?" Jaune asked his teacher despite what he already knew as the man just shook his head.

"No... too much blood is gone, she has deep fatal injuries and let's not even talk about the state of her arm."

Nothing more needed to be said to Jaune as the outcome for the woman was obvious.

She was going to die

He knew it, Shirou knew it, and the woman herself definitely knew it.

"There's nothing we can do for her. We need to get moving "

"I can't just leave her like this, Shirou."

She was already growing weak in Jaune's arms as he still tried to keep her upright. "B-Both of you aren't going to run away from this place, are you? I can see it in your eyes... the both of you must be stubborn... or crazy."

Despite himself, Jaune chuckled while Shirou just shook his head. "Yeah...I guess that's a good word to describe us."

"..."

"..."

"How old are you, anyway?" Heather weakly asked the boy keeping her steady as curiosity got her. He looked very young, like he should be in school or in one of the academies, to Heather.

"Err...sixteen."

If she had the strength, Heather would have gasped and unleashed her maternal opinion at the idea of someone so young choosing to stay in such dangerous area. Instead, she started to tear up. "You're so young...only seven years older than my little girl back home. You really shouldn't be out in a place like this...I bet your mother would be worried. I know I would be."

"Y-Yeah I...err...you might be right." Jaune didn't know what to say back.

He just found out she was the mother of a nine-year-old girl somewhere and he had no clues on how to respond to a person dying in his arms, He wouldn't dare to argue with a person on their death bed like this.

More screams could be heard, but Jaune couldn't leave. It didn't seem right to let Heather die all by herself.

"What's your name, sweetheart...I'll feel bad not learning the person's name that's keeping me company in my final moments."

"It's Jaune...err...Miss Shield ...and that grumpy old guy over there is Shirou." He didn't give his last name.

The older man in red just nodded but didn't look happy to be standing around.

"Well... Jaune you can just call me...Heather a-and I'm sorry but I can make a selfish request?" Her eyes started to water.

He nodded.

"Can you, a-assuming that _*COUGH*_ you make it out of this place, give my H-Huntress license and Weapon to my f-family in Mistral...please." She was crying now, as everything grew cold to her.

"Yeah...I...err...promise."

After all, an Arc never goes back on their word. It was one of the only things that had been constantly hammered into him by his father at a young age despite their current relationship that was up in the air.

Heather then gave off a tiny grateful smile before closing her eyes as the small rising and falling of her chest ceased.

Things were silent as neither Shirou or Jaune said anything for the Huntress that just lost her life in front of them.

Maybe to be respectful, or it might have been because the two didn't have much to say or feel for the loss of a person they had just met.

Being gentle, Jaune carefully laid the women down on her back with his hand still red from her blood. He began to fish out Heather's Huntress license. He assumed that she wanted it sent over to her family to confirm she was gone and not just missing in action.

It would be cruel for the family to keep their hopes up, waiting for no one to come home.

Picking her short red sword next, Jaune traced it to figure out how to use it so he could collapse it into its compact form for travel. Once the sword was put away he looked over to Shirou and his mentor was frowning.

"You done?" He asked Jaune.

"...Yeah."

"Good, then let's not waste any more time. Your actions, while compassionate, may have cost someone else their lives because you were too busy trying to comfort a dying woman." It sounded harsh, but Jaune couldn't fault that logic.

It was cold, but that's how Shirou would sometimes be in dire situations to ensure he did what needed to be done. It was almost like the white-haired man would slip into another persona that more serious and cynical compared to his more good-hearted usual self.

That was how Jaune had seen his friend behave when Shirou would tell him to stay watch outside of bandit camps while his teacher took on the whole group leaving the runners to Jaune.

Keeping in step with his teacher, they both cautiously kept their eyes open to spot the monster attacking the town.

" **ーーー** **!** " A monstrous roar echoed out, followed after by more screams and cries of terror.

"We're wasting too much time," Shirou stated while clenching his teeth. "Kid! You take the north side of town, and I'll take the south, let me knew if you find this thing...and don't engage without me!"

Shirou ordered while Jaune mutely nodded.

The two of them split up by going down two different streets trying to find the source of attack as quickly as possible in an effort to preserve more lives in the large town.

* * *

'It's complete chaos around here! Everyone is panicking so much that I can't locate where I need to go!'

Past the confusing unfamiliar streets and alleyways, residents of the town would frantically run around without order, making it hard for Jaune to maneuver. The young Arc was close to considering jumping up to the rooftop for easier navigation.

'I really hope Shirou is having more luck than I am right now,' he said internally to himself with a large amount of frustration at not being able to help any of these people as they trampled over one another.

Eventually, he just kept following the screams, going in the opposite direction people were running from which led him to reaching Cleonae's town center.

'I bet this place was really nice to walk around before this all happened.' The blonde observed.

It appeared to once have housed a marketplace, but now, the stands were abandoned or destroyed. A vision of what would happen to the whole town if he or Shirou didn't do something about it. The only Huntress here was already killed and there was no way the simple people of Cleonae would be able to survive without aid.

Not to mention, with all the panic going down it, could possibly bring in lesser grimm, putting a time limit on this whole thing. The longer this powerful grimm was around terrifying everyone, the higher risk of this place being overwhelmed by a horde.

'We have to act fast and get everything under control.'

Right now, all these people had was Jaune and Shirou.

'I can't let them down.'

Stepping deeper into the marketplace, Jaune's nose started to pick up a putrid smell and his face scrunched up.

The best description he could come up with was like that of decomposing meat which had been in the sun too long and... strangely had a metallic scent to it.

 _ ***Growl***_

It didn't take Jaune long to catch a glimpse of what the cause was as he saw something poking above the far market stands away from him.

Muffling his steps, he quickly moved behind another row of stands, allowing him to sneak up closer without drawing its attention.

Now with a better view, he finally saw the thing responsible for all this chaos. The creature that had killed Heather and who knew how many other people.

At first, Jaune wasn't sure what the thing even was as it looked like no grimm he had ever seen or heard of. It didn't have the common bone mask that the grimm were known for; the only bone-like parts that could be seen were its sharp claws that looked like they could cut through, anything and a few ribs that were sticking out.

'That thing has to be a grimm, as that is the only explanation but...what the fuck is wrong with it?'

Its body closely resembled that of a lion with the size of a pickup truck, but it looked to be dripping with tar, causing a small black smog around its body, giving it a menacing look straight out of a child's nightmares. The thing had thick dark fur, but also had its face and parts of its legs covered in disgusting boils with slimy short tentacles thrashing out of them. They twisted and squirmed around like maggots feasting as they were coated in more of the beast's black grease.

The face was so badly covered in boils and tentacles that Jaune had no idea how it was able to see anything, but was sure he caught a glimpse of red orbs hidden underneath those disgusting deformities.

It had its mouth wide open, giving view to the beast's large jaw containing jagged teeth; and then there was its tail, which seemed to also have boils on it, twisted into a sharp thorn stinger well-suited for stabbing.

Jaune was sure the abomination in front of him was only something the most twisted of minds could cook up.

The disgusting looking lion Grimm was enjoying itself on an unlucky civilian.

It wasn't eating them though.

No, strangely enough, instead, the thing was hunched over, and looked to be sucking some sort of...essence out the body giving it those same soulless eyes as before.

Jaune peeked out a bit to get a better look. 'What is it doing?'

Abandoning the carcass, the person turned into an empty husk. The creature growled as it started to take big sniffs of the air.

'Shit!' Jaune ducked back behind his cover, thinking he had been found out, causing his heart to rapidly beat from the fear he was feeling from just being in the presence of that thing. Shirou had said this thing was way dangerous than anything he had seen before.

 _ **Thud!**_

 _BA-DUM_

 _ **Thud!**_

 _BA-DUM_

 _ **Thud!**_

The grimm was sniffing around the place, looking for something, while Jaune tried to control his heart rate as he could hear the dull thuds of its heavy steps move closer.

...

...

...

 _ ***Growl! ***_

 _ **Thud!**_

...

 _ **Thud!**_

...

 _ **Thud!**_

Strangely, the sound of the footsteps were... getting quieter?

Jaune tried to find out why and risked another peek around his cover to learn that, oddly enough, the lion type Grimm had changed its direction over to the other side of the market. While relieved since now Jaune had an opening to go and get Shirou so they could kill this thing before it did any more damage, the beast's sudden change in direction made him ask something.

'What made it change course like that?'

Focusing on it, Jaune found out what caught the beast's attention.

It turned out he wasn't the only person hiding out in one the market stalls.

There, fairly hidden across on the other half of the market, was a young couple. 'They must have chosen to hide instead of running and ended up witnessing the Grimm kill their friends and neighbours.'

They seemed to be distraught and panicking, which was to be expected, but their combined fear and negative emotions were signalling the lion Grimm right over to them.

Gritting his teeth, Jaune knew he needed to do something fast or else those people would be added to the already large death toll.

But Shirou had also said that he shouldn't attack the Grimm on his own.

He was stuck.

Either follow his teacher's command, which would cause the deaths of innocent people in need of his help, or get the grimm's attention on himself and end up disobeying the man who had done everything for him.

It wasn't really a contest when Jaune got down to it.

'How can I ever hope to one day call myself a hero if I leave these people to die?'

What was the point of getting strong if he couldn't use it to save people?

He still felt bad about the fact he was going against Shirou's wishes, as if he was going to end up disappointing the man he looked up to.

Just like the last one he had.

Shaking his head. 'I can't think about that right now. I need to view my options and act.'

Sadly, Jaune's options were a bit limited.

'I couldn't use any of my broken traced weapons because the townspeople might get caught in the explosion. I don't have time to relocate myself to set up a sniping spot for my bow because it would take too long.'

He could only see one probable cause of action to take in order to ensure the best likelihood to save the couple.

'Guess I'll have to take it head on and kill it in one unexpected attack or get its attention on me long enough for them to get away... it's shouldn't be too bad I can handle this!' Jaune reassured himself, getting up from behind his cover.

Moving into a ready position to storm the grimm, he planned on taking it by surprise.

He couldn't allow the beast to take away another single life from this town. Shirou might have said he was being reckless again, charging in like this to save two random people without backup like a fool.

'So, what if I'm a fool? As long as I can save them it doesn't matter.'

Focusing, he spoke the trusted words taught to him.

"Trace...on."

With that spoken, Jaune moved at the speed he used against Mordred, blurring out of existence to many normal people as he bolted with a reinforced longsword in hand.

Jaune's intention was to use his speed to his advantage and take the thing out in one well-aimed strike to the back of the neck as it faced away from him.

Coming up on the unaware Grimm in mere seconds, Jaune readied an overhead strike to behead the beast with fierce unrelenting force.

 _CLANG!_

The blade struck true, but Jaune was not met with the outcome he was expecting.

 _SNAP!_

'What?!'

The blade broke into two pieces causing a metallic ringing sound to go off, making Jaune's eyes widen, He had reinforced that longsword to be as hard as diamonds and the lion grimm's fur had just repelled his attack without causing any damage to it.

His surprise attacked had failed and he was now dangerously close to the beast so the blonde attempted to clear some space between him and the Grimm. However...

 _ **"Rrrngh!"**_

Just because Jaune's attack hadn't hurt the Grimm, didn't mean it hadn't felt the heavy blow against its neck, so it turned its head around. The Arc received a close-up view of its revolting face. Bearing its teeth, the thing roared, and next thing Jaune knew, the beast had moved its tail with frightening speed and slapped him away like a simple pest.

 _*Crash! *_

Pain blossomed in his chest as he was hit unprepared, making him go flying through one of the many market stalls and sliding across the hard stone ground.

"Argh!"

His back ended up taking the brunt of the impact.

'Not gonna lie, that hurt.'

Coughing, he looked to see that the strange Grimm had its complete focus on him now.

Which was great, except for one thing.

The couple he was trying to save were just staring at him wide-eyed from their hiding place, stunned at the young boy risking his life for them.

"Don't stand around here! Run!" He shouted at them which seemed to get them moving, and Jaune turned his gaze back over to his current problem.

"Alright let's try this again, shall we?" Picking himself up from the ruined market stall, he dusted himself off as he projected two normal swords above his head.

He fired them off as a way to cover the couple's escape.

 _Cla-slish! Cla-slish!_

Yet again, though the blades didn't seem to be able to penetrate past the Grimm's fur hide as they hit their target.

The blades had staggered the beast somewhat, but they bounced harmlessly off its fur!

What kind of grimm was this!? Attacks just seemed to be useless against it.

Jaune was forced to remember what the huntress said to them. 'This is what Heather was on about, saying attacks didn't hurt the thing.'

The lion-like grimm didn't seem to care for Jaune's plight as it pounced towards him at lighting speed, going for a slash with its claws.

Its speed was so quick and unlike any Grimm, he had ever seen before that Jaune wasn't left with much time to roll out the way and he had to kick himself off the ground to avoid the follow-up attack from its tail as the claws pierced right into the ground.

It was way more aggressive than what the Arc had seen before.

It was fast, and kept up the attack, all the while ignoring Jaune's attacks.

Maybe he should have found another way to save those people and still get Shirou.

'Well too late now, I got myself into this mess,' He told himself as he tried catching his breath for the few seconds he had. Running around the town for so long and fighting wasn't doing too many favors for his stamina.

"Huff...trace...on."

A spear materialized into his hands.

Jaune thought a polearm would be better at keeping his distance from the grimm until he found a weak spot or found Shirou.

Soon, the town center became the arena for Jaune and the Grimm as the two started to demolish the place where the townspeople once would all gather and trade. The swipes from the creature's claws and tail ended tearing apart what was left of the market, making splinters of wood and bits of food flying around the place.

Jaune could only keep his distance from the grimm's attacks by continuously making new spears and firing off swords as his spears broke, though he could only stagger the beast, and could not pierce his fur.

He was hesitant about using any broken weapons because he was paranoid about people still hiding in any of the nearby buildings getting hit by a stray explosion.

"DAMN IT" Jaune cursed as another spear broke in his hands.

This wasn't working.

"Trace on!" He declared.

A pair of trustee twin blades traced into his hands.

He threw the both of them in one huge frustration-fuelled swing making them spin towards his foe as he moved in.

Then something new happened.

 _Cla-slish!_

The blades hit the lion's front legs before spinning back to him. He heard the grimm roar at him, not in just in fury, but in pain and saw to his relief and slight disappointment two moderately shallow cuts.

More like two simple paper cuts, really, that bled black ooze.

"It bleeds!" He cried out.

Letting the new-found confidence get the better of him, Jaune got in close pulling out some traced iron chains in an attempt to restrain the beast so he could now do something better than some small cuts.

It was only met with mild success as its craws cut right through them, getting its tail free so it could take a swipe at him, which was blocked successfully by Jaune trapping the tail in between the twin swords but he had to dig his feet into the ground to stop him from being thrown away.

Applying pressure, the swords started to slowly cut into the flesh of the tail, making the beast shriek as Jaune threatened to sever the limb.

A new problem arose because Jaune had gotten so close that he was within reach of the restrained grimm's face.

It took a few chomps from the grimm to see if it could catch the blonde in its jaw, but it found nothing but empty air.

For a moment, the Grimm stopped and started to make what sounded like irritated growls before it stopped to inhale a large amount of air.

Jaune saw thing's boils start to grow large and inflate two times in size.

 _ **"Rrrnghaaaaa!"**_

Before Jaune could even question what the thing was doing, it snapped out its jaw. A deafening roar wasn't released but more of a soundless one as a thick black fog of miasma was produced and blown right into his face. The stuff reeked of death and Jaune could feel it was burning his skin upon contact and his exposed eyes watered in irritation. He also ended up accidentally inhaling the stuff, making him have an uncontrollable coughing fit as he felt like his lungs were clogged up with smoke.

The unexpected black smog was so bad it caused Jaune to lose his footing, letting the Grimm knock him back across the market, disarming him as the twin curved swords flew out of his hands.

'I can't breathe!' He panicked, as Jaune kept coughing up black smoke while trying to get his sight working again.

It felt like his lungs were clogged up with bubbling tar as the stuff refused to leave and stuck to his insides.

Getting on to his knees, the Arc spat out his spit as his airways started working again, making him gasp for air. It seemed his ability to breathe was working again, with the black smoke being dispelled from his lungs, although Jaune felt a bit dizzy as his skin felt a bit numb.

Wobbling a bit, Jaune got up. 'What fuck did that thing just do to me?! Was that poison or something? I d-don't feel like...I'm sick but I... don't feel right either.'

Every part of his being was tingling in a weird dulled sensation like the connection to his nerves had just stopped.

It was hard to feel anything right now; the blonde could barely even feel the cold breeze touching his exposed skin anymore.

Blinking away his blurred vision, Jaune was sure his eyes were red right now from how irritated they felt. He saw the lion grimm had broken loose from its chains as it looked to be getting ready for another go at him in revenge.

Somehow, it got worse as Jaune noticed the small cuts he had dealt after this time knit together like they never happened.

"T-This is starting to get ridiculous," He groaned out, "Why won't you just die already?"

The beast just roared mindlessly.

Sighing "Yeah...I figured you would say that."

Sharpening its bone claws against the ground, the grimm darted over what was left of the market towards Jaune as he just looked on in annoyance and exhaustion.

'This is turning out bad. What little damage I did is just healed up...what did I do to deserve such crappy luck?'

It was getting closer now, about halfway across from him.

He needed those twin swords again. They were his key to dealing damage to the damn thing as it seemed that his other weapons couldn't even draw its blood. Jaune had no clue what made those twin blades so special or different than any of his other weapons to succeed where the others had failed but the boy didn't care.

Ignoring the numb sensation around his body, Jaune spoke, "Trace on."

He visualised the white and black twin blades and went to projected them into the world.

...

...

...

But nothing happened other than blue sparks fizzling out in his palms.

'H-Huh...what the fuck just happened?'

The Grimm was three-quarters of the way to him now.

He tried again with more focus. "Trace on!"

The same result happened once more, as nothing would form in his hands. Just blue sparks and energy failing to take any shape at all.

'W-What!?'

Something was wrong.

No twin blades, sword, spear or lance would come to his call.

His skill wasn't working.

Panic began to set in as Jaune saw that the Grimm was now too close for him to run without getting hit.

'Shit! What's going on!?'

He kept repeating the words but nothing would work and it was already too late.

The lion grimm had already reached him.

0-0-0

* * *

End

 **Alright I got to explain somethings here now so I'll start with stuff near the end of this chapter.**

 **First the strange Grimm is meant to be a Soul eater from the Fate Grand Order mobile game for anyone unfamiliar with it. What did it do to Jaune? Well if you know about the abilities it has in the game and what it can do to your servants then you maybe already have a clue. Plus, it has some other stuff that I added to it which you might form an idea if you recognise what legend the name of the town pops up in and how that relates to why no damage could be done to it.**

 **Why or how is it in Remnant?**

 **There are things going on in world that haven't been shown yet concerning certain individuals from Rwby as well as what different things have happened in the world because of the Fate elements in the story but I can't say anything on that yet.**

 **I also added the Soul Eater in because the normal Grimm we have seen so far in RWBY are kind of...weak. I mean I guess to a civilian or child who doesn't have a weapon of any kind the base Grimm are scary but since the show follows Huntsman I'm not sure how deadly they are meant to be. I think the basic Grimm are meant to be a threat in large numbers but even they kind of never really come across as anything that could hurt a huntsman since I never saw one get killed in the fall of Beacon and can only assume someone did. Heck even the boss-like grimm get taken out pretty easy be it Ruby with her deus ex machina on the dragon or the** **N** **uckelavee** **which got shown to be very deadly ended up getting taken out by four Hunters with one year in training, (Seriously! I get that there meant to be prodigies or whatever but does that mean if a normal fully trained huntsman went to where it was they could have killed the Nuckelavee no problem? I mean I don't see why not since a trained Huntsman should be better then three first years.) Anyway, I needed to bring in Grimm which could actually be a threat in the story especially since people from the Nasuverse are broken as hell so I need something that could bring a challenge for someone like Counter Guardian Shirou so I took stuff from FGO's list monsters.**

 **Next is** **Heather** **Shield:**

 **She was a minor character mentioned volume 5 when Qrow is going around the slums in mistral looking for huntsman to help him and knocks on that house with the husband and daughter inside. Since she was only mention and assumed dead I thought I would be cool to use her and show how she died by being given a mission by Lionheart.**

 **The scenes with Shirou and Jaune talking in the camp was very hard to do. I tried showing that Jaune is still mad but is feeling uncertain about his actions and choices, I ended just going with how I normal have felt after argument with family but dialled up with the scenario. I didn't have the story follow him right after he left since I think Jaune would still be too mad and emotional which would not have been good to write since you know how I didn't enjoy his attitude at the end of the last chapter. So, now Jaune has somewhat calmed now and had time to think on everything.**

 **With Shirou I tried to show that he** **isn't a natural teacher and it has been a learning experience for him as well in the years teaching Jaune. Also showed that he's worried now about what kind of damage has been done to Jaune that Shirou didn't have at the start when they meet since back then he didn't have a close connection with the kid. He just saw what he was doing as some kind of self made duty to make sure another one of him isn't born into the world. Shirou is also happy about Jaune starting to think for himself instead of the blind loyalty that Jaune has been giving him. Since the boy looks up to Shirou and so he never questioned the man's motives when he was young child. but of course there are cons to this since now Jaune will want answers about stuff that Shirou hasn't shared with him.**

 **Finally also showed more about what skills Jaune has and doesn't have yet. I made sure in the other chapters to never mention that Jaune could find out the history of a person's weapon because that seemed a bit too good for him right at the start as it would have ruined the scene with Raven since Jaune would have gotten her name by tracing her sword. Plus it would ruin any future fights for Jaune against people he doesn't know if he can just learn about them through there weapon. It's bad enough that Shirou will be able to do that to his enemies that he will face in the story.**

 **Not going to lie I'm still not too sure how the Shirou and Jaune in the camp scenes turned out. I'm pretty sure I suck at dialogue. As I've been told anyway and I don't think there wrong.**

 **And finally, at the start of the story we have the family finding Jaune is missing. Again, another hard thing to do, mostly because I feel like it is out of place in this chapter since I did want the reaction to be in the last one but that would been way too long.**

 **The whole Arc family think Jaune is still in Dragontail at the time since they have no reason to think that he's already gone skipped town on them. Of course, they know after the three weeks time skip but I'll be showing what's going on with the Arc family and their situation in another chapter but It won't be the next one. I have a lot of stuff planned out for the family with different members doing different things and we still haven't seen what Ozpin is up to with Alex in those three weeks since made sure to save that for later.**

 **Alex might think Jaune may have also gone to Vale but he is actually on the far east of Sanus heading the direction of Anima. They currently in** **Cleonae, a town that was a hub that people passed through a lot on there journeys between the two continents but prefers to stay independent from the kingdoms to avoid the large taxes they would face under there rule.**

 **For some odd reason when Alex found his son was missing I made absolutely sure he never said something like "what have I done". I don't know why but every time I see that I just don't like that line used in these types of stories.**

 **Weird I know.**

 **I hope this chapter was alright to you all and sorry if wasn't worth the wait.**

 **To the FGO players I hope your rolling has being going well. I didn't get** **scathach in her re-run banner or mama Raiko but I did get lucky on the summer event and got Tamamo lancer after a shit load of spins for her. Now to save for the meme lord that is Merlin since there is no one else this year coming out that I am interested in.**

 **Well see you guy later! Hopefully I'll have another chapter out soon but don't hold your breath since this one took ages to get out.**

 **Bye.**


	7. Chapter 7-The battle of Cleonae

**Authors notes**

 **IMPORTANT PLEASE READ:**

 **So...um Hi it's been a while I know and I'm sorry about that.**

 **The reason for all this is simple really I've had pretty much no free time like I used to anymore and I've been really struggling to make any process on any of my stories, I did start this chapter not long after C6 but errrr. Alright so pretty much the thing is back near the end of September I had my first job interview and now I am working and then you add classes, tests and sleep(Something I really need because I'm not getting enough of it) which has ended up killing all my free time down to nearly nothing. Before I had all the free time I needed to write when ever I feel like it but now I've been having to force myself to do it when I get a moment because I know that If I don't nothing will get done.**

 **So anyway I'll say that all stuff which has messed up my normal time schedules has affected my writing so I'm not too confident about this chapter at all.**

 **Speaking about this chapter it's huge, the biggest I've done. This wasn't meant to happen at all but I don't know I kind of lost control and I'm really annoyed by it(So much that I hate even adding in these notes because it's just adding to the word count.) There so many things I wanted to do and this just end becoming way too long that it crept up on me. If it helps maybe you could think of the long chapter as compensation for how long it took me to update and the fact upcoming updates could take me while for the reason stated above.**

 **Alright I'll try and make some quick points about stuff that was asked in last chapter.**

 **First- Yes the inspiration I took to when came to add some stuff to the Soul Eater is from the legend of the** **Nemean lion with a few other things added.** **Anyway I know that in the mobile game the Soul Eater can seal NPs but I also chose for it in this story to have the skill seal as well when it uses it's soundless roar attack since in the FGO game Archer Emiya's third skill is projection so I thought that it would help make the soul eater become more threatening if it could stop Jaune from making any weapons since he relies so much on that skill. Plus I don't know how strong the Soul Eater truly is since it's kinda hard to tell when playing a simple mobile game so I had to get a bit creative. Sorry if that's confusing or annoying for anyone. The reason why Kanshou and Bakuya can cut into is** **because** **of there** **special** **trait as the soul eater is classed as a monster but they can't do much** **damage** **to it.**

 **Second is about Scathach. She is coming, I'm sorry it's taking so long for her to show up It's just that** **every time** **I've planned to bring her in I end up pushing it back** **because** **I feel that it isn't right yet. I really don't want to rush her in even if I really want to get her into the story as fast as possible.** **I have already come up with how she is going to come into the story since when around chapter 2 and 3 were done. I know how I want Scathach to appear and I do have a goal of which Chapter she will meet Jaune and that's my current goal I'm working towards. I ended pushing her introduction back instead Chapter 6 like I planned** **because** **I** **believed** **it was a better Idea to have more of Jaune and Shirou only moments with just the two of them before she will disrupt that.**

 **This is really important, I wrote a lot of this before RWBY volume 6 came out. Due not having any free time I haven't watched it yet but I have had some things spoiled for me. E.g the relic of knowledge, the gods and the stuff about Ozpin and Salem.**

 **I'm not sure I'm meant to do about this because a lot of the stuff I had planned kinda doesn't involve some of this and would change if I kept going in my story. For example Ozpin and Salem would never have been in a past relationship for what I was going to do about the two of them and there past in this story, the same with the relics because what I had planned will now get rid of Jinn because what I planned for the relic of knowledge to be would be much more powerful then ask three questions every 100 years.**

 **So what do I do?**

 **Should I change everything I planned to make it fit with what Cannon Rwby is adding or do I just stick with what I was going to do and just say "Hey it's an Alternate universe fic bullshit so I can make any changes I want."**

 **Anyway thanks to Grim of Brennus Hopes,** **AlucardTheDragonicGod and Lord** **Rikudou for taking the time to check over this chapter for me. It really helps. Also thanks to Jacks for the advice, it's helps out a lot when I'm in doubt.**

 **Warning my spelling and grammar is most assuredly bad.**

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series**

* * *

Chapter 7

The battle of Cleonae

 **Town of Cleonae, A couple of minutes early.**

Down in the south side of Cleonae, everything had devolved into complete chaos. The streets were packed to the brim with people pushing and shoving into each other as they desperately tried to flee towards the south-side gate, while the monster attacking their home was busy feasting upon the poor souls left behind in the northern district zones.

The narrow paths were too small for the hundreds of scared civilians fleeing, causing a clog up that slowed movement down for anyone who seemed to of had the same idea of escaping through the south end of town.

Mothers were holding onto their crying children for dear life as not to lose them in the swarms of terrified people. Fathers were trying to clear a path for their families to ensure their safety by pushing people in front of them out of the way, making some fall to the ground only for them to be trampled on by others as they moved closer towards the town gate. Merchants could be seen trying exit Cleonae while still having their paid guards transport their goods on large carts which only caused more congestion to occur in the streets, some more daring people took advantage of the disorder that had befallen the town and took to sacking house, smashing shop windows taking what was in sight and causing all other sorts of anarchy.

The whole thing was a complete mess with people screaming and crying out in fearing for their lives from not just at the monster attacking their quiet hometown but from any type of nefarious individuals that were looting and robbing due to the sudden absence of order and law.

Hidden, standing in a nearby dark alleyway one individual could be seen not panicking as he wore a cool mask of indifference, witnessing all this take place before him. His eyes took everything in as he watched the simple townsfolk fall into despair as they all began drowning in terror.

"This situation has gotten too out of control." His voice was cool and calm as he made the statement despite the current circumstances going on around him.

For Shirou, this wasn't anything new to him at all, during his time he had seen many horrors and atrocities. Heck, sometimes it was him committing those acts with Alaya sending him out to eliminate everything and everyone remotely close to those the counter force deemed a threat. So, seeing so many people running for their lives in their darkest hour was something he had seen far too much by now. It was just something that sadly he had become accustomed to in his role in life. Most of the time it would people running away from him as Shirou enacted Alaya's will when saving humanity from its own demise.

'This shouldn't be happening.' He told himself as he watched the people of Cleonae trying to almost to climb over one another in an attempt to gain as much distance as they could from the beast attacking their home. 'I should have had more than enough time to handle this and take care of everything before whatever threat that was plaguing this place would strike. How did this happen?'

Had Alaya's info been off? Did the beast attack earlier because of that Huntress, Heather, aggravated it?

Could something else have occurred for this town to fall into chaos now of all times?

There were questions that didn't matter in the end, Shirou supposed seeing as they wouldn't help in stopping the monster that was destroying the settlement, speaking of which the white-haired man's search in the southern district had turned up nothing. Shirou had scoured his side of the large and compacted town but was unsuccessful in finding the beast as if it was invisible to his trained eyes.

The only things his search had turned up had been a few more victims that had been left behind in its wake. All the bodies had the same appearance of their eyes looking like empty soulless black pits as if all the life had been sucked out of them causing them all to appear more like hollow husk then people.

The state of those poor civilians hadn't filled Shirou with confidence in what they were dealing with here. It was clear that the thing had done something to its victims which at this point in time Shirou was unclear of what it was exactly but it definitely made the hairs on his neck stand tall as his mind was taking in the whole situation.

Frowning Shirou began whispering to himself. "Whatever this thing is, it's dangerous and definitely a call for concern. If it's anything like the more difficult tasks Alaya has sent me to deal with while in this era then this whole town and I may be screwed."

Then just as he thought about the possible true dangers that he was facing here, Shirou's mind flashed to Jaune.

If his search in his half of the town had shown up empty with no monster and the people were using it to escape then it was almost certain that the thing responsible for all this was somewhere near the kid.

And Jaune didn't have him close by to make sure the kid didn't get himself killed.

A tight knot could be felt in his stomach but it disappeared so quick that Shirou wondered if he had felt it at all.

'I don't need to panic' He told himself strongly while thinking about what Jaune might have run into while they had been split up. 'The kid can handle himself and I specifically told him not to engage the thing without me and if he found it that he should seek me out so I can deal with it.' Shirou tried to reassure himself that the kid would be fine and Jaune would do exactly as he had been told like all the other times they had done more simple tasks together when out in the wilds.

But then again Jaune had a knack for getting himself into trouble, especially with his crappy luck not doing him any favours.

Shirou really hopes Jaune had followed his orders.

This wasn't anything like the stuff the kid had dealt with before and him acting on his own was a sure-fire way for Jaune to get himself killed. Fighting simple untrained bandits and mindless common Grimm were a lot different than the type of stuff they were facing now.

Still, the idea of possibly finding Jaune horrendously injured or worse finding the blonde teenager dead lying in a pool of his own blood with those soulless eyes tormented his mind. After all, death always seemed to follow him around and those close to him before they had ended up dying with Shirou outliving them all.

'If Jaune ends up dying here...it would be all my fault. I'm one who took him with me out on this mission and away from his home and family.' Shirou's mind began to entertain the morbid idea that Jaune might end up dead because of him.

Maybe not today but someday in the near future that could very well happen.

'If he dies, the kid will never be able to sort himself out with his family and everything between them will be left unsaid. It's my responsibility that I make sure he's safe out here with me and that Jaune uses everything I've shown him to stay alive but... what If what I've shown him isn't enough for a mission like this sent by Alaya?' The man began questioning if shoddy methods of his first-time teaching someone would hold up.

Very soon the red-dressed Archer was actually starting to feel something that Shirou thought he had lost a while ago.

It was fear.

Fear that Jaune might lose his life out here.

Shirou had never really feared the possibility of his own life being ended especially in his younger days if his death had meant that others would have lived on instead. He had valued the lives of others even complete strangers over his own but after a while of being forced to commit acts as a counter guardian that feeling of fearing and worrying for people he would never know or would mean anything to him had died down somewhat.

He still never wanted to do it and taking the lives of nameless innocents was something he appalled but Shirou had been forced to do it in his new role as Ayala's agent. In the end, he had closed himself off while all alone and grew cold when dealing with the lives of others in order to keep going or else Shirou would have broken down completely at some point by now.

The only solace he could take was in the memory of the people that meant something to him and would risk almost anything for.

There were only a few that Shirou could think about from his past that he would truly worry about their safety now as his current self, but sadly they were all gone and his feeling of fear for others close to him gone with them.

So, it was a bit of shock for the Counter guardian to have such a feeling resurface once again after so long.

He was honestly scared and worried about what could happen to Jaune out there while dealing with a threat that was something possibly beyond the kid abilities and maybe even for Shirou himself if the past mission from Alaya were anything to go by.

Shirou hadn't felt like this for someone since when he thought about the times that Saber would do battle against a dangerous servant while he stood back and watched or when he spent time wondering if Rin was going to be alright during the duration of the grail war. Others came to mind, such as Taiga, Sakura and Illya, people from his old life who he truly cared for and worried about their well-being over his own.

"Huh...I didn't think that I had warmed up to the kid THAT much. I must be getting soft or something in these last few years with him if I'm really this worried about the brat's well-being like Rin's and the others." A chuckle left his lips momentarily breaking the brooding mask he had on while all the chaos went on around him.

Shirou wondered if this was similar to what he felt towards Illya for a short while with him being an older sibling to someone.

Four very long years had really changed how the two interacted and helped each other. Especially since when they meet Shirou had been a complete stranger which a young twelve-year-old Jaune Arc had found in a dark alley.

'Not the best way to meet a young child I've got to say so myself.'

Back in the first few weeks when Shirou had been first deployed by Alaya he had been very sceptical about hanging around the kid and spending any amount of time around someone.

Especially after all that time which had felt like an eternity of isolation to him while working for the counterforce.

He never would have thought that he that his relationship with the brat would become what it had.

While Shirou had help Jaune in many ways and so to had the kid done the same for him in places. Such as probably helping to bring out his more carefree side over his more cynical and serious one. It was because of the bond the two had formed that Shirou did feel a hint of guilt for never truly informing the young blonde about the secrets that he kept from Jaune since all the way back to when they first met even if it was for the best.

After all, telling a twelve year at the time about the full truth about things such as magic, heroic spirits and the existence of entities like Alaya and Gaia didn't seem like a smart move at all.

* * *

 **Flashback 4 years ago, (Right after Jaune fell unconscious from installing the class card.)**

"AGRH!" Shirou listened and watched as the young the boy he had only recently known screamed in agony from the installation before dropping to his hands and knees for support. Jaune then gritted his teeth as sweat started pouring out from his body due to the strain it was going through.

Shirou could see the boy was in immense pain and fought his initial instincts of wanting to help the kid. So, he just kept on watching as the blonde endure it all on his own.

'He's lasting longer then I thought he would, I'll give him that.'

It wasn't long until it was all too much for the twelve-year-old and Jaune finally collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.

Walking slowly over to the child Shirou crouched down and checked the kid's pulse. He gave a small sigh of relief in finding out that Jaune had survived the process, getting back up he left the unconscious boy be since Shirou didn't want to disturb anything in case the class card hadn't fully finished taking place inside Jaune yet.

Moving over towards the desk Shirou took a seat behind the desk before looking around the room. It had been three weeks since he had been sent here and the white-haired Archer had made sure to set himself up fast. The day after meeting the boy in the alleyway, Shirou had already gotten his hands on this old and fairly large house out in the far outskirts of the town which was called Dragontail. Acquiring it from the old bold headed landlord had been easy, all it took was a bit of simple hypnotism, which was so basic that even a third-rate mage like he could use it, something he had picked up in his travels as a mage for hire and boom!

A free base of operations with a fully kitted out kitchen to go with it, something Shirou had been very insistent on getting if he was going to stuck here for a long time. He needed to make sure that his skill in cooking hadn't gone dull in these years.

The house hadn't been all good though sadly, Shirou had needed to clean and fix up a couple of the rooms to bring it up to his standard of living. 'And I did a good job if I do say so myself...still this place isn't nearly as big or secure as the old Emiya residence but it will work for the time being.'

Once securing a place to set up shop, Shirou had got to work learning and acquiring as much as he could about the strange new era, he found himself in when he wasn't dealing with the blonde kid that came by all the time to get his ass handed to him.

Just because Alaya had been 'gracious' enough to give her agent information on the world, language and his assignment didn't mean that the counterforce had given him everything. No, Shirou had learned long ago that Alaya only gave out information it deemed necessary and relevant to ensure that its agents would succeed. Beyond that? Nothing and Shirou wouldn't be surprised if the counter force believed something to inconsequential when Shirou would think it be of great interest or impotence.

'You should never rely on information from an untrusted source.'

Once thrown into this world Shirou's gut had told him to do his own research and not rely on what someone else informed him of. 'It was a good thing in the end that I followed my gut. If I hadn't done my own searching, I wouldn't have found what I did in such a short amount of time.'

His searching had yielded some interesting stuff that about the catastrophe that Alaya hadn't gone too much into...or maybe the will of humanity truly didn't know about what had fully happened that caused all this to occur?

'That would be a first.' He commented off in his head.

While Shirou hadn't been able to find anything about the event itself in the many old books and tomes he had gotten his hands on, Shirou did find something very interesting and noteworthy. Seemed as if what small portions of humanity that originally survived the catastrophe had passed on stuff from the old world which had made into the new era of Remnant. Things such as the old heroic tales of heroes had survived and passed on, of course, a lot of them if not all had been altered and changed somewhat down the many years but Shirou could still recognise pieces of stories such as Heracles, Achilles, Ramesses II, Solomon, King Arthur, and many others even in their new forms in the stories they now took.

Those old legends weren't the only things that had lived on from the world Shirou had once known.

When first looking for information about anything that Shirou might have thought to be useful to him a few books had ended up catching his eye, specifically ones that mentioned or contained the subject of magic. A lot of the ones that he had read were nothing but useless made up drivel that someone had made up to sell to anyone nowadays who believed in supernatural forces which weren't many or the books just briefly talked magic in one of the many fairy tales.

But out the dozens that had been read, there had been the odd one or two that held something of merit.

Picking up an old tome that had been left lying about on the desk he started to flick through the pages before stopping.

Printed out on the old worn-out page was almost an alchemic formula for making a homunculus embryo that Shirou recognised from his time.

He said 'almost' because the formula on the page was wrong since whoever had written it long ago was missing some steps and had mixed up part of another formula with making what was on the page useless to anyone but this did inform Shirou of something else.

'I guess it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to me that in those few early pockets of humanity who survived whatever it was that killed nearly everyone off so long ago, that a few of them had have been magus as well.' Clearly, though the existence and knowledge of how to use magecraft had been lost throughout the years as what got passed down got messier and messier until no one could even do it anymore and the concept of magic became more of a myth.

It was bound to happen given how isolated, secretive and few the mages were compared to the rest of mankind that after what happened there wouldn't be many of them to keep the idea of magic alive. Still, it made Shirou wonder what had happened to many of the items the mages used such as mystic codes and the such.

'Are any of them still around to this day? Had people been finding them out in whatever ruins that were left behind?' Yet another something for Shirou to look into.

Although it wasn't as if magic was completely gone or a new branch of it wasn't anyway since Shirou already had evidence of that with what the people now called semblances and Aura. That stuff definitely wasn't natural for mankind as it had never existed before this era but it was without a doubt magical in nature.

People's semblances reminded Shirou of a person's Origin and it looked like the power someone got from there semblance was also influenced by their Origin with some of them being possibly non-element or element as just an example. Aura like Prana worked like a fuel source which helped powered the semblance to work for the user but Aura had the added benefit of passively putting a protective barrier kinda like bounded filed that heals you.

How did mankind all of a sudden gain such abilities? Shirou only guess was that this was done due to the meddling of Alaya.

Now he had no way to prove this but it made some sense to him.

Since Alaya had a hard time deploying/supporting counter guardian thanks to the interference with what was left of Gaia and the fact that the will of mankind was severely weakened, Alaya had to find another a way to protect humanity. It was possible that early on that she utilised her connection with all humans to give mankind a better chance at survival by giving them a personal bounded field around their person and a power to combat the terrors they now faced in the forms of Aura and a semblance. Which could be awakened forcefully when in danger or better yet unlocked by others to keep mankind alive in the coming hard times.

Shirou frown as he thought more about it. 'Luckily for the counterforce since humanity is lower in numbers it actually increased their overall potential. It might be why they have managed to make this far and make such technical achievements that far out do some of the stuff from the modern day of man.'

One thing he did question now thought was. 'Could it be possible that maybe the potential for humanity now might be great enough to reach that of what it was during the age of gods or may go even beyond that?' Maybe not but Shirou couldn't say that he wasn't partially interested after all the stops Alaya had pulled to keep itself and mankind going.

Heck, it wouldn't be a shock to Shirou if Alaya had been so desperate to as gone so far as to meddle with the biology of Humans and created the Faunus just to further increase the chances of the few surviving members of mankind so that all could live long enough to repopulate and bounce back.

'I wonder if Alaya had the foresight to see the problems and misery the Faunus and Humans would cause each other? Then again I bet if she was responsible she wouldn't care as longs as it meant more lives could live on in the end.'

Getting out from his chair Shirou began to walk around the desk and saw that Jaune was still passed out but was starting to stir, he hopes the kid would wake up soon he didn't want to explain anything if someone came looking for him.

"At least he's alive and the card seems to of done its job without killing him." He said without any emotion in his voice as his more unsympathetic side showed which had formed from time as a counter guardian.

Speaking about the possible death of a twelve-year-old kid so casually didn't sit right deep down in a part of Shirou, but he kept telling himself that this was just another job from Alaya like the many others he had done. That being open and caring for Jaune didn't matter and all he needed to was to make sure the job got done.

'That's a lie though.' He admitted to no one but himself.

This job was different. It didn't involve him going out killing untold amounts of people associated with a threat to mankind like he had done many times before, this task was to watch over and train Jaune, a young child at the moment, for Alaya's unknown reasons while Shirou just secretly wanted to circumvent that goal.

'That means if the brat and I are going to be around each other for a very long time, so it's going to be very hard for us if I just treat him like nothing more than a task that needs completing.' Shirou knew it would be for the best if he opened himself up more to the idea of teaching the Jaune but, could he do that?

Could he risk forming a teacher and student bond with the boy? And end up caring for him?

The idea seemed odd since Shirou had never taught someone before in his life. Heck, it was mostly people teaching him stuff all the time with Saber showing him how to hold a sword or Rin trying to help him understand the proper basics of magecraft.

Shirou Emiya was a lot of things.

A third-rate magus, a self-proclaimed hero of justice, a faker but a teacher? He wasn't too sure how this all going to play out in the end.

'More than likely in disaster knowing my track record.'

Back to Jaune still on the ground, Shirou was starting to feel the small effects of what the class card had done. That being he began to start sensing the lad's body give off a strong presence of Prana or this era's odd unique branch of it known as Aura. The amount coming off the kid was a bit surprising to the counter guardian even if he knew that the class card might have given Jaune a boost in some way to make him more powerful.

"But...it shouldn't be this much, should it?" Shirou frowned as now deliberately looked into what kind of Prana/Aura the boy was packing and the results were surprising. The kid was giving an insane out of the stuff like Jaune's body was some kind of super generator for producing Prana, it was enough that some the long-time magus families from Shirou's era would have wanted to bring the kid into their family to possibly strengthen them.

'How in the hell does the brat have so much prana?' Was it something to do with his genetics? Shirou thought Jaune had made a passing statement about his family belonging to a long line of powerful Huntsman.

Maybe having such high prana had something to do with the family and was passed down throughout the generations. It could be similar to a magi bloodline with some families having special traits.

'Well... at least I know that you'll have enough prana for our long training sessions. I really hope surprises aren't going to become common when dealing with you, Jaune. At the very least you'll be...interesting to say the least.'

Looking down at the prone boy with an interest that had been piqued since meeting the young blonde. After all, it had been quite an experience in interacting with someone who was so much like what he had once been in life, like the kid could almost be this eras version of him. But the blonde kid also showed to have his own quirks and differences that set him apart from the redhead that dreamed of becoming a hero of justice.

Which was a good.

Maybe those few differences were all Jaune needed to make sure that he didn't end up at the same destination that Shirou had found himself in.

If not and Shirou found Jaune ending up on the road to becoming another him then...

What could he do to prevent Jaune from sharing the same fate?

' **You could kill him to stop that from happening.'**

The dark thought flashed in his mind, one that he didn't wish to even consider but couldn't stop his mind from thinking up such a horrible solution. The fact that such a thing had come to him made Shirou feel sick to his core and had look away from the passed out Jaune as he shook his head in shame.

Hanging his head down his looked blankly at the wooden desk again. "I'm starting to think too much like him now, aren't I?" He whispered softly while thinking about the man who had come up with a similar idea before, to kill him during the fifth grail war.

Shirou wondered if history was going to repeat itself with him being the one trying to kill Jaune to stop the young kid from sharing the same fate like Archer had tried to do with him so long ago.

"I'm not him. I'm nothing like him..." Shirou whispered to himself but it didn't sound too convincing.

Looking up he saw the slight image of his own reflection in one of the windows at the back of the room. What Shirou saw looking back at him didn't fill him with any positivity at his words.

His once red auburn hair had lost its coloration a long time ago due to unknown years of overusing his projection magecraft under the service of Alaya and now every single strand of his hair, styled down like it had been when was a teenager, was a simple plain white. The overuse effects of his projection had also caused his skin tone to darken considerably over time. At first patches of his skin started to change on different points of his body, making Shirou look like he had contracted some kind of disease for a while before the streaks and patches began to spread all over giving Shirou a dark tan similar to the infamous Archer of the fifth grail war.

His eyes had somehow managed to retain their golden hue and Shirou wasn't sure how he had managed to hold off the effects of overusing his projection from losing his golden-brown eyes. They are probably the only part of him that still resembled who had once been but even that would be gone eventually, at this very moment Shirou could see the tiny flakes of grey within those golden orbs of his. Showing the signs that they were changing into a less lively colour grey.

'It won't be too long now.' Shirou gave himself maybe just less than a decade before the rebound effects would claim his eyes as it had done with his hair and skin.

The longer he kept staring at himself in the reflection the longer Shirou couldn't see any physical distinctions between him and Archer. Shirou looked almost identical to his future/alternate timeline version of himself. Heck, Shirou had even taken up using the same red outfit and black body armor as well since it was so efficient to use.

The only differences that you could point out were Shirou's still, for now anyway, golden eyes and the fact he didn't have his white hair slicked back.

'If only Rin or Saber could see me now. If they saw how far I've fallen I wonder what they would say to me about how I ended up turning out just like where Archer was even after everything we went through?' Gods Shirou missed them more then he would ever care to admit. He missed a lot of people from his past but his mind did always wander back to the happier memories that involved the king of knights and the twin-tailed tsundere.

But they were gone now.

Rin clearly must have died long ago from old age and Saber... Shirou could only guess where she had ended up now after all the shit that happened to cause the world to end and be born anew in this era. Was she still stuck in her loop of before her death? Had she gone to the throne of heroes?

Shirou didn't even know what the current state of what the throne of heroes was in. Wasn't the counterforce meant to summon heroic spirits from the throne of heroes when humanity or the planet was in danger?

There were so many ideas that Shirou himself was still unaware of and doubted that Alaya was going to fill him in on it. 'Is that what happened during the catastrophe that caused all of this? Had Saber and other heroic spirits been summoned to protect the word and failed? What could even have caused that anyway?

He didn't know why, but he wished that Saber was at least okay wherever she was after his failure to help her.

Moving away from those thoughts and coming back to the reflection Shirou wasn't sure what to think of his current self. He knew in his heart that he wasn't Archer, at least not completely but neither was he Shirou Emiya anymore, the young kid who wanted to become a hero of justice.

Who was he now then?

If not Archer or the naïve young Shirou then who?

Maybe he was his own person. A strange medium of someone who didn't have the young Shirou's naïve idealism nor the complete cynical and harsh viewpoint that Archer always had no matter what.

His was Shirou Emiya a counter guardian and now surprisingly a teacher now for a young kid who was similar to him. It was Shirou's job to make sure that Jaune didn't follow the same path as him and he would do it without resorting to Archer extreme methods to prevent that from happing.

Staring at his reflection right in the eye Shirou spoke to himself once again.

"I'm not him." He repeated confidently this time with a new fire in his eyes. 'I won't end up trying to do what Archer did with me. I refuse to accept that they only way to save the kid from feeling the same pain as me is by ending his life.'

Shirou would stick to his word and train the child and make sure Jaune would at least do better than him in life. Even if he didn't have the first clue in the world in how to teach, Shirou would just have to improvise and hope for the best.

What could possibly go wrong?

….

….

...

Sighing out through his nose. 'This is all going to go horribly wrong, I just know it.' Shirou admitted. He was not looking forward to figuring out how to teach.

"Errrrrr."

Groaning reached Shirou's ears, turning around, he watched as Jaune's eyes slowly flickered open and adjusted to the light seeping into them.

"Errrr wha-what...h-happened?" Jaune asked in a strained voice, which Shirou answered with a simple sentence.

"You passed out."

"I did?" Those blue orbs zoned in on him as Jaune tried and failed to lifted his upper body up.

"Yeah, you dropped to the ground and went out like a light for about half an hour." He informed the boy as Jaune griped both his hands on his head as if the kid was suffering through a massive headache.

"Grrrrr, oh man my head is killing me!"

"Yeah...and mine will be as well if you keep moaning like that." He quipped as Shirou was unsure on what else he could say to the kid in pain.

"I can't even think straight. What happened that caused me to pass out like that?"

"You don't remember?" Shirou asked a bit worried that the card might have caused some damaged to the boy. 'Although if he forgot about the class card, I can get past all this without having to come up with a hard explanation for what had just happened to him.'

It didn't seem like a good idea to Shirou about revealing the word of magic and lot to a twelve-year-old who he had only recently met till now. Jaune could freak out if Shirou showed the boy the wonders and mostly horrors involving magecraft or worse the kid could go blabbering about the stuff to anyone else. After all, Shirou and Jaune had only just met and the kid had no reason to trust any word he said so Shirou couldn't stop Jaune from spilling everything when the kid got anyway from him. Which wouldn't be a good thing at all for Shirou who was trying to keep a low profile at the moment after only being in this new era for just three weeks.

"I can barely remember what happened," Jaune said in strained voice showing how exhausted he felt from the pain the class card had caused. "You h-had a... shiny gold card-"

"It's not a card!"

Jaune kept going despite the interruption.

"That...thing went inside my chest then...I felt like there were a bunch of pointy objects trying to stab their way out of my skin and that kept going until the pain hit me. My blood felt like it was on fire boiling from the heat and someone had jammed a hot poker into my spine at the same time." Jaune grimaced as he described the feeling out loud.

"It got so bad that my vision started to blur and I felt dizzy and then...everything went blank."

Sadly, for Shirou, it seems that the installation of the card hadn't given Jaune some convenient memory loss. As the boy slowly kept recalling the recent incident that he had just gone through in his first steps in learning under Shirou.

"Is that everything?" He asked.

"No," Jaune shook his head. "I m-momentarily dreamt of being on a hill surrounded by... something I-I dunno what."

Rising a white eyebrow at that last bit. 'Well isn't that interesting, certainly sounds familiar.'

He couldn't ponder on it long as the blonde started talking.

"What the hell was that thing anyway? What did it just do to me and how?" The twelve-year-old questioned in a loud voice that was irritable to Shirou's ears.

This was the first small bump in the road that Shirou found himself in which he expected a lot in the future with the kid. How does he explain away the class card to the boy which will leave little trouble for while?

'Come on Shirou he's only twelve for crying out loud! It shouldn't be too hard to outsmart the kid and talk your way around it.'

"That thing is referred to as a class card, remember that all right, not a 'shiny card', a class card." Shirou spoke down to the kid in a condescending tone, Jaune was slowly processing this in the head which made the blonde frown in anger at the man messing around.

"As for what it did to you? It's like I said before the card allowed you to gain my ma-err...I mean semblance and unlocked your prana." He had almost stumbled on his own word forgetting to use right phrases.

He had already given the kid a half-baked explanation earlier before installing the class card and now Shirou had to stick with his poorly thought out story to explain away the things.

'Maybe I should have spent more time thinking all this through instead of leaving it till the last minute to spend all my time researching.' oh well, it was too late now.

Jaune finally got up from the ground but didn't seem too satisfied with the information and looked like he wanted to know more as any curious young boy would be. "Y-Yeah alright b-but...how!? How does that thing even work? How come I've never heard of such a thing before and who gifted you that card in the first place?"

"Hmmmm." Taking a thinking pose to waste time and grind on the poor boy's nerves a little, Shirou took his time to answer.

He eventually chose to play the whole thing off in a casual and uncaring way. "It's like I said before you passed out the card was..."

"Magic." Shirou gave a teasing grin that just seemed to piss the kid off even more. The way he said in such smugness made it sure that there was no way the kid would except that and just assume Shirou was messing with him.

"Will you stop toying with me already and just tell me the real explanation." The young kid mumbled out while almost puffing his cheeks in frustration not believing the man what he said, just as Shirou had expected.

"Look..." Shirou started with seriousness in his voice as he used some light hypnosis to help make this subject move along faster. It was nothing big just little something Shirou was using to help make everything go a bit smoother for this one time as this only usual work on weak minded people but since Jaune was still a child it would still work somewhat. He very much doubted this would work ever again when Jaune was older and had gotten more powerful.

"...the card gave you my semblance and will definitely help you get stronger, and faster than anything else out there. The card is from an acquaintance of mine who is Hunter like me and she has this special semblance that allows her to copy and encapsulates another person's semblance and power, in this case mine, mainly in the form of golden cards." Shirou was now mixing a lot of lies with some truths in this explanation.

He knew that the kid clearly didn't know much about the nature of semblances or anything to do with hunters so it made it easier for Shirou to make up an exclamation by saying that Alaya was some person that had a unique semblance to copy and give other people's powers. Shirou was also appealing to the boy's idea of getting stronger as well as rolling with the idea that Jaune though he was a huntsman.

Now Shirou had never made such a claim at all as it was something the blonde kid had just assumed right from the start, which you couldn't blame the boy for. After all what other explanation could Jaune have come up with to explain away Shirou's skill and strength since the boy had grown up hearing that Huntsman and Huntresses were the strongest out there?

So, in the young Arc's head, Shirou could be nothing other than a Huntsman, an oddly peculiar one but still a Huntsman.

"Now that the card is installed you will start to gain my abilities at your own rate, how fast will depend on you. Also, don't forget that the card won't make you as strong as me just like that." Shirou snapped his finger to emphasise the point.

"You are going to have to work and train hard while taking everything I teach you seriously, you got that?" He asked Jaune who now looked to have some energy back and looked pumped to start some real training in helping him get stronger.

"Yeah! I understand I'm ready." Jaune informed his new teacher, happy that he finally got an answer to his question that had been bouncing around in his head since waking up.

"Good." Shirou nodded his head in approval in seeing Jaune drop the matter about the class card. He guessed it was because the young child was impatient and cared about starting any training as soon as he could so Jaune could achieve his dream. "Well, I suppose first we'll have to start off with the basics to see what you can now do and then work our way up from there."

The white-haired Archer resolve to properly explain everything to the kid someday when Jaune was older and less likely to give away anything that could jeopardise Shirou's presence here in Remnant, he already knew he needed to be careful with people such as Ozpin around.

Who knows what else was out there that Shirou needed to be vigilant of, which he wasn't yet aware of? 'I've only been here for less than a month so better to cautious with everything that I do.'

 **End of flashback**

* * *

" **ーーー** **!** " Another far-off monstrous roar sounded off breaking Shirou from his thoughts of his recent past interactions with Jaune. The sound of the beast got a wide reaction of screams and shrieks from the people in the crowded streets as everyone seemed to double their efforts into getting out of Cleonae as fast as inhumanly possible.

Trying to pinpoint the location of the roar, Shirou clenched his teeth in frustration. With how compacted the buildings were in the south side of town the sound-waves appeared to bounce and echo off every wall in all directions making it near impossible for Shirou to tell where the far away roar had originated from. All that could be determined was that the beast sounded pissed off as if it had been hurt.

"Where the hell is this thing!? It shouldn't be this hard to find a monster terrorising a town." The frustration was starting to get him to now, the longer Shirou took to find the thing the more chance of it finding Jaune first and putting him in danger.

He needed to get over to Jaune's side of the town, but Shirou didn't want to waste any more time searching for the thing and having to randomly scoured the other half of Cleonae before finally running into the creature, Jaune or both.

He had already tried asking some of the panicking townsfolk right next to him where the beast was last seen but didn't get any answers as the people were too busy getting their loved ones the hell out of here.

'This is useless, I'm getting nothing just standing around here! I guess I'm going to need to find a high vantage point and start scouting.' Shirou turned his back to the alleyway exit next to the busy street filled with screaming people.

"Hey watch it!"

...

"ARRGH!"

Just when he was about to leave the dark and restricted alleyway a sound of someone falling to the ground caught the Archer's ears. A young man had been pushed over to the ground in the crowd and was in risk of getting trodden to death, the only person attempting to help him looked to be the man's girlfriend as they appeared to be a couple. Not wanting to see the two of them get killed by the fleeing crowed Shirou used his speed to snatch the young couple out of the street and into the alleyway.

The couple was momentarily disorientated by his quick actions.

The young man looked at Shirou with wide eyes as he breathed heavily and began to thank his savior. "H-holy crap! T-Thanks man that's the second time I've almost died today, this whole place has gone to shit I-"

 _Thud!_

Unfortunately, the younger man was unable to continue on as Shirou picked him up by his shirt and pushing him into the brick wall. "Hey man! W-What the fuck are you doing!?"

The young man or boy, in Shirou's eyes, started to panic along with his girlfriend as they thought that the man in red was about to rob them or worse. Both of them started to think the worst about the tall tanned man's intent with them now, ever since the town had fallen into mayhem it had brought out the worst in some people as the couple had seen while running for their lives.

The both of them had already almost died back in the market district and had only just escape thanks to some outside intervention, now they may end up getting mugged or killed by this random man in a dark alley.

"Shut up!" Shirou demanded not messing around, he wanted someone to point him in the right the direction fast and he didn't have the time to be polite about it. The couple froze in fear and didn't dare move or say a thing at the tall and intimidating man in red.

"Good, Now tell me if you know where exactly the monster that is attacking this place is or where it was last seen.

"Errr wha- um err," The scared man had trouble getting his words to leave his throat as Shirou stared down at him with a piercing glare. "T-The Grimm was tearing up t-the m-marketplace last time we saw it before we got away."

"The marketplaces?" Shirou repeated. "Are you sure?" He asked with urgency after finally getting some information about where this thing could be.

Still dangling in Shirou's hold on his shirt the guy nodded his head rapidly.

"Y-Yeah man, me and Jessica were hiding out while it was...d-doing something to one the stalls salesman. We stayed hidden for as long as we could but that Grimm thing had sniffed us out and was heading for us." The man struggled in Shirou's grip wanting to get out and run as far away as possible from the Grimm attacking his home.

Call him a coward if you want, the man didn't care. He wanted to live! Not end up like one of those husks lying out in the streets. This was the job for the army or a Hunter but it seemed that no help was coming and the Huntress already here was died.

'So much for Hunters being the protectors of the people huh. That stupid huntress couldn't even protect herself and now we are all going to die for it!' The young man thought bitterly as he wiggled in Shirou's grip.

The girl named Jessica spoke up speaking at a very fast pace as her frame shook while looking at Shirou holding up her boyfriend. "H-He's telling the truth! That Grimm was about to get Dom and I if it weren't for that boy with the weird blonde hair coming and distracting it for us to get away."

"..."

There was a beat silence between the three of them.

No one said anything as the silence came and soon to all three occupants in the alleyway even the sounds of the panicking crowd in the streets seemed to disappear for them. Like time had stopped only for them while everything in the outside world continued on without them.

To the couple it was like the air itself became too thick to breathe as they saw the man in red's frame pause for a split-second.

Then time seemed to move again for all of them as Shirou spoke after his half a second of cold silence.

Upon hearing the description of the boy Shirou's grip tightened as dread filled him up within him. "Did this boy wear something similar to me? Was part of his hair coloured white?"

Given what had just happened and what they felt around him the couple were well and truly freaked out. The boyfriend started to thrash around violently as he started to answer as fast he could in hopes that Shirou will let go and wished to never be in the white-haired man's presence again.

"Yes! Alright, he did! Now, will you put me down!"

"Not yet!" Shirou shook his head in denial of the request. "Where is this marketplace!? I need to know, now."

"I-It's north from here, right next to the town clock tower with the banners! There's a big open square for it. You can't miss it!" The young man yelled out and then was promptly dropped to the cold ground as Shirou let him go and left the couple on their own in a hurry.

They both witnessed the tanned individual shoot off with insane speed not even giving them a single glance back. Before the couple even knew it, the stranger in red used his fast momentum and kick himself off one of the narrow brick walls and then disappeared from view as he took to the rooftops.

With Shirou now gone the couple stayed still letting a few seconds pass before they soon chose to forget about what had just transpired and resumed their efforts in escaping Cleonae.

They didn't want to stick around and find out why the strange man in red wanted to go towards the danger. If he wanted to get himself killed that was fine by them.

* * *

"That reckless stupid idiot!" Shirou began berating his teenage pupil as he sprinted and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, moving so fast that he could feel the wind resistance trying to hold him back as Shirou began travelling all the way to the other side of the large hub town in a flash.

Using the rooftops made traversing to his intended destination much easier as Shirou's trained eyes had already located the clock tower that was mentioned to him. Not that the thing was too hard to miss anyway seeing how it was one of the few tallest structures in the settlement.

Had Shirou taken the south side of Cleonae instead of Jaune then the Archer would have definitely had used it for scouting out the settlement with his superior eyesight.

"Why did he have to attack and engage with the threat by himself?"

Jumping over a large gap between two buildings Shirou landed on his feet graciously and without losing a single bit of speed while doing so. A couple of tiles fell loose and crashed down into the streets below caused by the impacts his feet would make every time Shirou moved to a different roof to keep up his speed.

"I thought I told the brat that he was meant to contact me once he found it and not to fight without me there." Shirou had left Jaune alone for only a few moments and the kid decides to end up getting himself into trouble. The same thing had happened both when the masked woman had attacked the kid and when Jaune had gone on his own towards his family house.

It was starting to look like that Shirou can't take his eyes off the young Arc without shit hitting the fan.

He was starting to wonder maybe if Jaune's luck wasn't even E rank but something much worse.

Was it possible that Jaune somehow had... F rank luck?

'No that's impossible there is no way a person could have such shitty luck.'

Still travelling fast, Shirou was about to reach the clock tower that was apparently next to the market. Which was where Jaune and the Grimm attacking the town had last been seen. Deciding to focus on reaching his student Shirou doubled his efforts and pushed his body to go faster.

And soon found himself on a smaller building right next to the large and sky-reaching tower.

Immediately Shirou found himself staring down into the town centre that held the marketplace or... what was left of it anyway.

'What the fuck did I miss?' He thought to himself once his eyes finally caught sight of Jaune in the remains of the market.

What was once a place where an untold number of people living in Cleonae or ones travelling between Sanus and Anima would gather to meet up and spend their money making it one of the busiest areas in the whole town was devoid of such pleasant activities.

It laid abandoned by the town's folk left for the beast attacking them to do as it wished with it. The only remaining people of Cleonae in the marketplace were the soulless corpses left behind to rot.

Half the shop stands, near the edges, were toppled over spilling the contents of their food products all over the dirty pave stone ground left to forget in the panic. The other half were completely destroyed with chunks of wood scattered all over the place like someone had put them through a wood-chipper, the food in those stands had been destroyed as well with a bit of fruit splattered in every direction or dropped, left to be forgotten on the dirty ground.

The was only two living being left within the market.

One was what Shirou instantly determined was the creature that had set itself upon Cleonae. Its figure reminded Shirou that of a lion, be it a very large and deformed looking one like someone had taken the base image of a lion and mutated and twisted it with a sick imagination. The hide was pure black dripping in a greasy substance and the face was covered in boils making it impossible to see the things face.

'That thing seemed to resemble a Grimm but the counterforce wouldn't have sent me all the way over here to deal with a simple cannon fodder beast like the normal common Grimm.' He determined while assessing the threat the beast possessed. 'So, it's more than likely that thing is just as dangerous as the other strange Grimm Alaya has had me casing around since she sent me here.'

Moving on then there was his pain in the arse student who had been clearly fighting the beast for some time before Shirou had arrived. The state of the market told him as much the moment Shirou had laid eyes upon it. From where he stood to his eyes it was clear Jaune had seen better days, the boy looked to be winded and battered a bit but what was more concerning was the kid didn't look too well.

Like the boy had all of a sudden come down with something.

'I can't tell what's wrong with him from over here but what happened to him? He was perfectly healthy earlier today, no sickness or anything like that.' It had Shirou worried about what may have happened while he had been gone.

 ***ROAR! ***

The thing blasted out a mighty ear-piercing roar before taking off towards Jaune. Shirou was confident in Jaune's abilities that the kid would be able to handle himself somewhat but all that was shattered for the man as he saw Jaune do nothing as the creature got closer.

'What are you doing?!' He wanted to scream but found himself stunted by Jaune's inaction.

The kid wasn't projecting a sword in hands to defend himself with or even making something to act as projectiles to halt the beast's advances.

All the while the threat was moving closer towards the young Arc with each passing second.

For crying out loud Jaune wasn't even moving to get out the way of the thing or looked to be even readying himself to do a last-minute doge! It was like the kid had forgotten what he had been taught in the last four years and was just waiting to let the thing kill him.

This wasn't right, Shirou knew that Jaune wouldn't just give up randomly and accept death, the boy was far too stubborn and thick headed for that.

What was going on?

'Something wrong!' Shirou shouted in his mind as he saw the look of panic and shock play across the blonde's face.

The blacked coated beast had now already reached Jaune in those few seconds and was about to clamp its wide jaw on the lad. Shirou acted immediately on instinct upon seeing Jaune's life in danger and moved, willing every fibre of his being to save his foolish student.

Shooting off the roof so fast that it left a shock wave that blasted out the nearby windows, the red Archer phased out of existence for anyone watching before almost instantaneously busting back into existence right next to an unaware Jaune who was too focused on what he thought to be his immediate demise.

Now next to the boy Shirou came up a swift and calculated way of saving the blonde.

'I will take no satisfaction in what I am about to do.' He told himself in clearly fake sincere tone as he acted.

His right foot founds its way slamming into the unaware teenager's side with force that Shirou had pre-planned to be more than enough to give the young Arc some distance.

 _Smack!_

"GUH!" A pained grunt left Jaune's lips.

The poor boy soon found himself flying off his feet from an unknown attack on his left side and went skipping across the ground before once more colliding into an abandoned shop stand!

'Maybe I overdid it a bit.' Shirou thought as he saw the kid crashing into a random food stand in his far peripheral vision. Unfortunately, there was no time for him to check if Jaune was okay as Shirou now found himself in the direct path of the beast which hadn't stop its pounce.

Calling upon his years of experience Shirou took evasive maneuvers to narrowly evade the disgusting creature from crushing him from under its weight where it could have an easy meal to devour. Shirou shifted his body and rolled underneath and around the attacking beast where it had left an opening which only someone of his hard-earned skills would be able to pull off.

The greasy black tar covered monster was denied any sort of prey as it came down from its attack and was unable to lose any momentum that it had built up which made it impossible for the beast to stop itself from crashing into one of the nearby buildings that Jaune and now Shirou had previously been in front of.

Stone brick walls were no match up against the dark hulking mass, the wall gave way as soon as the beast slammed right into it. It stumbled right through the outside wall and into house's living room, taking out all the supporting walls and beams inside. With all that happening it was no surprise to witness the building give in on itself and collapse down on the creature burying it in rubble.

Shirou watched on as a house which had probably been around for decades belonging to a family somewhere got reduce to nothing in a matter of seconds. He supposed that it was lucky that the thing hadn't taken out the other building connected to the house.

'I somehow doubt that a building falling on top of it will be enough to kill that thing.' The beast certainly looked resilient if anything.

"Errrrrrr..."

Rustling was heard from one of the wreaked stands as Shirou saw the familiar white and blonde hair of Jaune pop out of the mess which was made of wood and cloth.

"Shirou?..." Jaune strained his voice as he attempted to get himself out of the broken food stand. "How did you find me... and why did you do that? You son of a..."

"Oh, I merely happened by." He cut the lad off, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "I had expected to find you long dead, but you seem to have a lot tenacity about you. Clearly, my training has paid off in some regards." Shirou finished off by praising himself.

He kept his voice level and light mocking trying not to give away the worry he had felt earlier, Shirou could go without letting the kid think he cared that much about him. After all, knowing Jaune the boy would attempt to have some fun with it if the kid had that knowledge. 'The little brat would never let me hear the end of it.'

"Are you injured?" He asked out loud while giving the sickly looking Jaune a glance.

"No... but..." Jaune answered him back but looked uncertain about something, about what Shirou had no clue. But it could wait for now since his ear picked up growling coming over from the recently destroyed house.

"Then that's good."

The rubble began to shake a bit of as rocks slid down from the large pile.

Shirou kept his eyes locked on with the debris and waited while still talking to Jaune. "Now normally as much as I would want to tell you "do whatever you want." I suggest that you stay where you are."

The rubble began to violently shake now and before long the disfigured abomination reemerged, looking more feral and savage than ever.

"Damn." Despite cursing a cocky smirk made its way onto his face. "I think things are about to get a bit messy."

 _ ***Roar! ***_

* * *

"Trace on!"

And like that another battle began, this time the repulsive looking lion Grimm had its full attention now on the human that was in the centre of its vision. The thing kicked itself off the top of the rubble using its powerful legs to move at a lightning speed.

With the trusted Kanshou and Bakuya equipped in his hands, Shirou took action by setting off, kicking up some dust behind him while doing so.

Both were sprinting headlong at one another with neither Shirou or the beast looking to back off as they just kept on getting closer. It was almost like the man and the monster were playing a game of chicken to see which one of them would back off with each step they took bringing them nearer to meet to kill the other.

For Jaune, who was now almost on the sidelines getting himself together, it was bad since his asshole of a teacher was running off to fight before he could say anything to warn the man about the Grimm.

That pissed Jaune off, wasn't Shirou meant to be less reckless then him?

It was too late now to stop Shirou as he met the beast head-on with no way to back out.

Once they both reached each other the beast acted first by going in for quick swipe with its jagged bone claws towards the Archers chest, a hit that surely would kill anyone if they were left exposed as the bone claws could simply rip right into a person's flesh. Cutting deep and wide to bring out an excessive amount of bleeding for the beast to kill its prey from blood loss if it was unsuccessful in ending a life on the first strike.

For Shirou, the man did what he almost always did.

He waited.

As soon he saw the attack coming Shirou had already moved to be ready to dodge the attack and did just that by angling his body so the swipe completely missed him. Shirou stared at the creature calmly as he moves in to attack, he was not worried nor intimidated by the large beast.

Berserker trump over this disgusting thing by miles.

'Though I will admit it's presence does come close.' Being within the creature's personal space there was definitely something foul about it but Shirou was unable to narrow down what it was.

Still, it didn't stop the white-haired man from hesitating in his attack and sliced successfully at the beast three times. All in what could be considered vital areas for most living things one slash to the throat, one where its front right leg connected with the body and the final hit went where things such as the heart and lungs would be.

The only issue Shirou found was when dealing those strike, it felt as if there was way more resistance there should have been. Like he was trying to crave through the thickest metal there was with a simple table knife and wondering if he would of even be able to cut into the creature if it wasn't for the special traits of his swords.

Sadly, while pondering this Shirou had temporarily forgotten about the beast's extra limb that it possessed which it made use of as it growled in pain. The next thing Shirou knew a long black twisted thorn like stinger or tail came in to smack him away.

 _ **Thud!**_

Bringing one of his arms up Shirou grunted and managed to block the hit from getting him square in the chest but strength behind the tail was more than he had anticipated. Even with his reinforced arm taking the blow he found himself pushed back and ended up unwillingly sliding away from the beast while still staying upright.

"Guh!"

'Damn that hurts!' Wincing from the pain Shirou was sure his arm would have been broken if not for the quick reinforcement he had done to protect himself. So instead of a shattered arm Shirou had most likely ended up with a sprained one if the constant jolts of pain when testing his wrist were anything to go by.

"That's annoying!" He hissed out in a low voice so that Jaune wouldn't hear him and think something was wrong.

No reason to get the kid worrying about him now was there.

Looking back Shirou was able to confirm that he had indeed cut into the monster's flesh but nowhere deep as it should have been. Those slashes should have had the things twitching on the ground as it slowly bleeds to death from having its vitals cut out, instead the only wounds that the black beast had sustained were only small cuts which were definitely nothing life threatening to the creature.

It got even worse as Shirou saw the damage he had inflicted start healing up and soon the thick black hide looked like it had never been cut in the first place.

'Kanshou and Bakuya have strong 'anti-monster' properties which have always made them perfect when dealing with the Grimm, even the strange powerful ones that Alaya has sent me to deal with before.' Letting go the tension he loosened up his arms and then the rest of his body before switching between tense and relax. 'The fact that this Grimm monstrosity has less than a scratch on it, from an attack with weapons which have proven at cleaving off limbs from the other powerful Grimm threats, is very concerning and don't bode well.'

The beast gained back its footing and dashed back at Shirou with reckless abandonment giving a show to its extreme overly aggressive nature. It felt like he dealing with a rabid dog that wouldn't wear out and wouldn't stop until either he or it were dead.

Having to once more keep avoiding the deadly combination of bone claw, jagged teeth and sharp-tipped tail, Shirou was having to conserve his energy in the fight as it seemed the beast almost had an unnatural lack for needing to rest. Like the thing was just made for killing or devouring and had no need for anything else including rest.

Unfortunately, that is something Shirou did not share, one of the downsides in having a real body again was that it more susceptible to ware itself out now. Still, he was much better off and had more endurance then maybe most of the other humans living today but still wasn't willing to waste all his strength this early on in the fight.

So being wise, Shirou kept up his usual evasion of attacks and countered when he saw an opening, which wasn't many given the creature's speed and aggressive behavior meant it kept putting the pressure on him. Then every time Shirou got hit in he found himself only being able to deal shallow cuts in the impossibly thick fur before having to keep moving in order to avoid the beast's follow up attacks.

'This is getting me nowhere!' Shirou realised before having to perform a huge leap into the air to not get caught by a wide swipe from its tail.

Once in the air Shirou quickly traced two normal swords by his sides and fired them at top speed to get some much-needed distance. The swords hit and caused the beast to stagger but did nothing to harm it.

Landing on one knee the ground underneath him cracked as it gave in.

Standing up Shirou tilted his head as he took in the creature some more from the new safe distance.

It was like things black hide was nearly impenetrable and Shirou suspected it was only the use of his special noble phantasms that he had been able to even hurt it. He dreaded to think how in the world Jaune had lasted so long against such a beast, given that the boy's armament consisted of common normal weapons which would be no use in hurting the strange Grimm. All the kid had to possibly use were his very weak, compared to Shirou's, version of Kanshou and Bakuya which still wouldn't be much help as they were vastly inferior to the standard that Shirou had set.

"This is turning out to be more bothersome then I had originally thought." He whispered quietly.

He could hear Jaune's raspy voice, like the kid had smoked a lot of something, trying to call out to him and get his attention about something but Shirou chose to ignore the blonde for the moment given the immediate threat.

'I need to kill this thing and the quicker it's done the better.'

With that in mind Shirou came up with another strategy, the idea being that maybe if he damaged the creature so fast before it could heal and from all direction then maybe that could end it once and for all.

Gripping the twin swords tightly that were traced in his hands the counter guardian threw the both of them, making them spin and sent them flying towards the beast, which had gotten ready to pounce.

The two rotating blades flew through the air making a unique whirring buzz noise which sounded kinda like a chainsaw. The two spinning blurs, one white and one black, soared at their target without mercy.

 _Cla-slish! Cla-slish!_

The air born Kanshou and Bakuya hit the creature right in its disgusting face, cutting away at the dangling tentacles and hideous boils which pooped realising more of the black grease to drip down the beast's face before the blades moved on. But they didn't return there owner instead both spinning swords were orbiting around the lion-like monster without showing any sign of losing their momentum that kept them suspended in the air.

The assault on its snout had for a moment caused the creature to halt its next attack that had been planning as it stopped to snarled in pain, making it stationary and vulnerable for Shirou to enact his plan.

Once more he traced his faithful blades into his hands just like before with nothing looking out of the ordinary.

"I guess you're not going to go down quite as easily as your other strange Grimm brethren that I've been forced to deal with before."

Until Shirou spread his fingers slightly to reveal he, in fact, had another pair of the iconic twin swords.

"So, it looks like that I'm going to have to pull out some more serious tricks for you."

Four blades in total with all of them being fanned out across his fingers in each hand like he was holding an old war fan right from the ages of feudal Japan. For what Shirou was about to attempt was going to take a lot more effort on his part to pull off. The technique wasn't really designed for dealing with such a large inhuman opponent and it didn't help that Shirou had no true idea where all of the vital points on the beast where, so he was having to improvise a little by adding one more pair of swords to try and make for the creature's large size.

When Shirou thought he was ready and that he couldn't wasn't any more time, less the creature recovered he acted immediately.

"Spirit and technique..."

Crossing his arms over his chest and tensing for moment Shirou threw his arms open releasing the swords.

The multiple copies of Kanshou and Bakuya all travelled out becoming rapidly rotating blurs of blue and red to anyone watching. The new two pairs of swords soon joined up ones already currently orbiting around the beast of Cleonae, the now six spinning blades encompassed the stunned tar covered creature.

Then Shirou spoke once more and time for him slowed to a crawl. "Twin wings, flawless and firm that can overcome the mountains and split the sea..."

He could now see the six blurs clearly as his perception of time slowed, all the copies of Kanshou and Bakuya were now slowly rotating in unison as they all began to close in. The first pair were aimed at the neck, the second at the exposed sides that weren't protected by the bone ribs and the final third coming at beast's defenseless rear.

"...but..."

All blades were coming at all possible angles. The question of whether or not the hits would land was pointless. The attack was unavoidable, it was a sure hit with the combination of using multiple sets of the married swords.

There was no escape for the beast, all there was left to see was if the creatures near impenetrable defense and healing were enough for it to power through.

With all the blades about to hit Shirou chose now to deal the final part to execute the attack.

A final pair of twin blades were traced and then Shirou ran headlong towards the beast's front, when close he crossed his arms and immediately started reinforcing them way beyond their limit until he overloaded them. The swords then changed and grew, transforming completely into their long-sword overedge state making them looked almost like massive metal wings.

When Shirou was finally close enough to attack he roared. "...can never reach the heavens!"

 _Slash!_

He then slashed downwards in an X-motion at the beast's repulsive face and when his hit landed so did all the other sets of swords at the same time. Every hit landed, all eight of them, with all of the slashes and hits piling up resulting in an overwhelming flurry of red and blue blurs assaulting the creature from all sides.

 _Slash! Cla-slish! Slash! Cla-slish! Slash! Cla-slish! Slash! Cla-slish!_

...

...

 _..._

That should have been no way for any natural living thing to survive such a whirlwind of cuts and slashes onto of one another.

 ***ROAR! ***

But there was nothing at all natural about this monstrosity.

* * *

Watching Shirou in action never stopped to amaze Jaune

Growing up he always knew that the man he called teacher was always appearing to be holding himself back, Jaune recalled all the times when he witnessed Shirou wipe Grimm such as Beowolfs and Ursas like there nothing at all and even in their time-fighting bandits Jaune never saw the man break a sweat.

In every single fight, Jaune had yet to even see his mentor be challenged in the slightest and to a young impressionable Jaune at the time when growing up it had only further help put the white-haired man up on a pedestal for the blonde to gaze up at.

To the child-like Arc back then Shirou was the living ideal that Jaune was chasing after to achieve.

Shirou was strong and powerful so much that even to the young Arc the man was just moving through battle to battle only having to use a minimal amount to succeed in tasks of helping people and a young Jaune wanted that to be him someday.

Of course, because due the high standard that his teacher had unintentionally set for the young blonde when growing up it meant that ended feeling like that Jaune had to prove himself even more to Shirou less the man might leave him behind like Dad had done in the past.

That might be one of the reasons for why Jaune was always finding himself in more and more dangerous situations as time went on. A part of him wanted or maybe needed to prove that he was strong and that his dream he and Shirou had put so much work into hadn't been a waste of time.

Shirou had picked on this tendency a while ago and pointed it out to the young Arc saying that it would one day get him killed if something wasn't done about it.

A fact which had nearly prove today as Jaune had been looking into the jaws of death that just so happened to belong to the strange Grimm that had been about to devour him. Only for Jaune to be saved like many times in the past by the assistance of Shirou dropping in and taking over the mess he had caused.

The man had just come out of nowhere and kicked him to side.

Making Jaune crash right into a random food stand for the second time this day!

Shirou didn't even spare him much of a glance and even when his teacher was speaking to him the man just joked around like nothing wrong despite the situation, they were in. Then not long after his dramatic entrance Shirou ran off to take over what was meant to be his fight.

'That fucking asshole didn't even let me speak long enough to warn him about what that thing had done to me.' That had pissed Jaune right off but his temper had quickly been subsided upon witnessing Shirou fight.

At first, a small part of him from his time as young kid of watching Shirou fight had just assumed that his teacher would easily slay the strange Grimm in a matter seconds like he had seen his teacher done a dozen times before.

Only this fight ended up being different.

He saw as Shirou experienced what he to go through in finding out the weird Grimm was insanely durable and that seemed to be invulnerable to any damage done to it. He watched in momentary shock when the beast had landed a hit on Shirou, that had never happened before usually in a real fight his teacher would always dodge and block an attack from hitting him in the very last moments.

Then as the fight went on longer and longer Jaune was possibly for the first time seeing Shirou take a fight way more seriously than he had ever witnessed before when out traveling with the man dealing with those other Grimm and bandits.

Jaune was finally getting to see Shirou put some actual effort in a fight and it was in a simple word incredible.

Every movement, every attack, and every step that Shirou made was calculated to not waste a single bit of unneeded energy in order to sustain his stamina. All his slashes were aimed for where vital points would normally be found on any other living creature and it wasn't for the strong hide that Grimm had to protected itself with and that insane healing ability then Jaune was sure that it would have been killed by now.

Even now though it felt Jaune was only still seeing a glimpse of what his mentor was truly capable of. And watching Shirou fight like this just reinforced the fact to Jaune that Shirou level was still out of his reach and didn't look to be that close even after four years of training under the man.

With the fight dragging on longer then the blonde would have liked with it far surpassing the time he had spent clashing with the Grimm abomination Jaune had started to try and call out to his teacher to warn him about what the thing had done to him. Which was easier said than done as Jaune soon found out with the fact that his throat felt incredibly sore from inhaling the black smog from earlier.

Trying to speak loudly out to Shirou was terribly painful for him but the Jaune forced himself to power through and kept calling out in a raspy voice.

Only for him to be ignored and blanked by Shirou, the man was far too forced on the Grimm in front of him to turn his attention away and over to him. Instead the blonde ended up getting to see Shirou pull off a move that he never been shown before at all.

A strange technique that involved Shirou using multiple copies of those twin swords that Jaune noted he always seemed to favor above others. The attack had the white-haired man throwing out a bunch of those swords and having them seek out their target from all sides that would leave you with no escape at all to block or dodge.

Then right before all the spinning blades made contact Shirou had moved in and somehow transformed a pair of those beautiful twin swords grow and extend beyond their natural capabilities. By the end of the transformation, Shirou had held onto two ugly looking long swords that appeared to have tiny metal blades protruding out of along them making them appear almost like metallic feathers to Jaune.

'What the fuck did he do to them?' He wondered in fascination.

Jaune wanted to know why he hadn't learned how to do that yet with his swords.

As soon as Shirou hit the Grimm right in the face all the others spinning swords clashed straight into the sides and back, with all of them all pulling towards one another. The end result coming in a storm of slashes that proceeded to cut and shred away at the Grimm in a spectacular show of red and blue flashes going off as you heard the swords cut into the flesh.

'He has got to teach me how to do that move.' Jaune told himself in wonder at what had just transpired in front of his eyes. The whole attack had been so fast that it had only lasted a few seconds before Shirou had executed it.

There was no way in the Arc's mind that anything should have been able to survive such an attack. It just wasn't plausible but that idea was proven wrong when the Grimm roared in anger from within the whirlwind of slashes.

Jaune wasn't the only shocked to hear the thing still alive if the brief look of surprise that showed on Shirou's face was anything to go by. When the assault finally ceased, they were both given a view of the beast and the state it was left in. Shirou's last attack had left the deepest cut yet in its flesh with dozens of cuts and gashes littering all over its body bleeding black ooze everywhere, its face which before had been covered in boils and dangling tentacles were now gone with them being cut away which finally gave Jaune a clear look at the things face and he rather wished that he hadn't been given the view now.

Underneath the deformities that concealed the creatures face was the stuff of nightmares.

Big rounded red eyes that were far too large stared right through them almost like the red orbs couldn't see Shirou or him, maybe the creature wasn't used to being able to see clearly without the boils and tentacles blocking them. There were these creaks like veins filled with colors of red and yellow substance around the eyes that scattered off in the different direction before they couldn't be seen under the fur but by far the creepiest thing about the beast's eyes were simple.

There weren't blinking.

The crimson eyes that held no pupils just observed on never once moving or blinking to acknowledge the world around it and that made the thing so much more unnerving to Jaune. It had peculiar curved slit snout and now, having a much clearer view the blonde picked up that the Grimm didn't even possess any type of lips to hide its large fangs or black sponge-like gums.

There were also two large cuts going down across its face courtesy of Shirou's strange wing looking longs swords.

No one made any movements for few seconds, both Shirou and Jaune were both on guard waiting for the beast to make a move. Meanwhile, the creature just stood still with its exposed face looking on freaking Jaune out even though Shirou was the one right next to the thing.

A throaty grumble seeped from its mouth and the beast's body tensed making both Jaune and Shirou do the same. The black smog surrounding its body started to shift back and forth as it continued to make disturbing noises. Then before there, very eye's the beast started to regrow the missing deformities with the tentacles growing back and the boils bubbling out of the skin, then after the wounds which had just been recently dealt began knitting them self's back together.

'What is this thing made of?!' Jaune had never once heard of a Grimm which could just heal itself back together near instantly and had near impenetrable fur.

With its wounds closing up slowly, the beast brought Shirou back into its cross hair's seeing the tanned human as the biggest threat to itself at the moment. Its roared that followed caused the ground beneath their feet to violently shake as it went it on Shirou who was already getting prepped to avoid the attack and to trace a weapon.

The white-haired Archer was waiting for the beast to attack with its claws, fangs or tail but instead, Shirou saw the thing start growling at him before in hailing a deep gulp of air.

Shirou had no clue what the creature was doing but Jaune did.

He recognised immediately the move the Grimm had done to him earlier that somehow stopped him from projecting any weapons at all. Seeing the boils inflate as they got ready unleash that dreadful thick black gas again Jaune knew that he needed to warn Shirou fast before the man ended up being taken by surprise like he had.

Pushing his body to fight against the soreness of his aching throat Jaune gave out a mighty painful yell. "SHIROU! YOU ASSHOLE!"

The burning stinging sensation to his voice box hurt like a bitch but it was worth it since it was able to get his teacher's attention.

Shirou's face turned slightly to face the blonde wonder what had caused the kid to call out to him in such a desperate tone while still trying to keep an eye on what the beast was up to.

"Get away now! It's about to gas you, don't allow that thing's attack to touch you!"

He saw confusion show itself on his mentor's face as Shirou tried to understand the warning that he had just shouted out.

Soon a looked of realisation snapped on Shirou's face just as the creature's jaw parted wide and released another silent roar that it had used on Jaune.

"Rrrnghaaaaaaaa!"

Fear made its home within Jaune's chest as the blonde saw the familiar thick black cloud of miasma and death blow out from the monster's maw heading right towards Shirou. Jaune could do nothing but look on as the black mist crept in on his teacher and friend if that strange black gas did the same thing to Shirou as what it had done to him than they were both screwed.

He and Shirou would be a pair of sitting ducks waiting to be killed with no real of defending themselves at all from the beast without their ability to call upon projections.

Shirou, who had already been at the ready to act once the beast had made a move of any sort took action and traced a weapon into his hand. Jaune saw the blue energy expand and weave right before forming into an odd weapon that he had not seen before.

In Shirou's hands, holding onto a long handle wrapped in bandages with a chain attached to the hilt on the base. On the other end of the staff which Jaune believed to be the actual weapon part of the object, there was a carved sheet of metal which looked to heavily decorated and seemed to have the borders of the sheets of metal cut to be razor sharp. With how the large thin sheet of metal on the end looked it made the weapon appear more like a massive fan or paddle.

'Why is he using a weird giant fan for? Just run away instead!' To the blonde the weapon was completely foreign and alien to him, how did Shirou intend to fight using that?

That question was soon answered as Shirou took a huge three-hundred-and-sixty-degree swing around his body with the oddly shaped weapon and produced a mighty gust of wind that sent miasma of death harmless back at the tar covered Grimm.

Jaune was gobsmacked by his teacher's quick thinking and unorthodox method of repelling the attack, which had left him defenseless, back the beast without any issue. Although Shirou's face could be seen showing off an almost fearful look in his eyes as cold sweat roll down the side of e forehead.

Still frozen with his body attempting to get rid the anxiety he had felt when he witnessed the beast redo its breath attack, Jaune was taken off guard as Shirou dispelled his fan weapon and shoot off towards him.

Before the blonde could even say or do anything his mentor had already grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and picked him off the ground, the young Arc now finding himself being carried away by his teacher as the man ran off.

"Hey! What-"

"Grrhhhhrrrhhgg!"

Jaune wasn't able to get a word in about what Shirou was doing as an inhuman roar sounded off and the black beast jumped forth from black gas after them.

The thing was moving a very fast speed and looked to be gaining on the duo.

Despite the high-speed wind whistling in his ear Jaune managed to pick up his teacher mutter off in frustration. "Damn it! This thing is starting to become a real pain to deal with, I need to buy ourselves some much needed time."

Within a matter of seconds after saying that copies of dozens upon dozens of chains materialised around Shirou, each one of the long chains were attach to spiked dagger which looked more like it would be fitting calling it a nail rather than a dagger. The chains as if alive all moved and weaved around and about the open space in the market square before entangling the raging beast.

They all wrapped and coiled around the creature's body like a snake upon catching its prey to squeeze the life out of it. The many reinforced chains restrained the monster's movements until it could no longer pursue the duo and once that was achieved, the dagger ends of each and every chain shot off in different directions to root themselves in the ground and buildings so that their captive could not escape without a struggle.

Once it was all said and done the greasy tar covered beast was pinned down and ensnared within a maze-like design of crisscrossing and interlinking chains that now spanned across the entirety of what had once been Cleonae market square.

* * *

Now temporarily in the clear Shirou jump onto a nearby roof overlooking the market with him still carrying Jaune by the back of his neck. Taking a moment to catch his breath, maybe now Shirou would be able to think clearly about what to do in this fleeting bit of peace he earned himself.

"Will you put me down already!"

Or maybe not.

Sighing before preceding to take another deep breath the tanned skinned archer looked over his shoulder to see him dangling Jaune over the edge of the roof.

"Will you shut up for just a few minutes? So, that my head doesn't start hurting from all your shrieking." He really didn't want to hear the boy's complaints right now.

Still dangling in the air Jaune struggled in his mentor's grip as he kicked about. "No, I won't shut up, you asshole! Stop dangling me over the edge and put me down on the roof!" The blonde shouted and demanded.

"What are you even thinking? Carrying me around like this?" It made Jaune feel like a toddler all over again like he had to be carried about his parents or older sister so that he wouldn't go wandering off into trouble.

"I dunno brat," Shirou growled out with one of his white eyebrows twitching as he spoke. "Maybe I realised that I can't let you out of my site for even a moment without fucking everything up and doing whatever that stupid head of yours tells you! Idiot!"

"Idiot?"

"Yes, that's what you are, fighting that thing on your own like that. I knew you were a fool but I didn't think you were brain dead."

Getting worked up at the comment more than he should have Jaune spat back. "Screw you asshole! I was handling it on my own."

Now the young Arc didn't mean that but...

It just felt like yet again Shirou was pulling his ass out of the fire and it made him feel like a burden to the man. Causing the thought which he had more prominently back in his youth that Shirou would get rid of him if he couldn't prove himself and that the man would be better off if he just washed his hands with him.

"Oh, were you really now?"

Abruptly the man threw Jaune down on the safety of the roof with dull thud getting a grunt out of the blonde as he was dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Because from where I was standing it looked like that thing was about to turn you into its new chew toy if I hadn't stepped in to save your sorry ass." Shirou raised his voice at the end he as stared down at the boy.

Jaune didn't retort and instead chose to look away from the man's unwavering eyes because he knew that it was true, without Shirou's timely intervention he would have been well and truly screwed.

Not letting the kid off that easily Shirou kept scolding his teenage student. "In the short time since I left did you somehow forgot what I deliberately instructed you to do?"

"..."

When Jaune didn't answer and still kept looking away the counter guardian narrowed his eyes.

"I said to you if you somehow happen to find the thing attacking the town the first thing you should do was to contact me immediately and to NOT engage it at all without my assistance." Shirou was quite angry with the blonde right now, in their past outing Jaune had never gone against his orders ever and the boy would always do as he was instructed.

For the first time since Shirou dropped him on the roof, Jaune looked back at his teacher with a hot fire in his eyes that burned brighter than the sun. "There were people's lives in danger! What was I meant to do? I couldn't just sit back and let them innocent civilians get devoured by that...thing!"

"You could of have do a dozen other things instead of stupidly picking to fight, you could have made a distraction or something," Shirou exclaimed while shaking his head before asking out loud in a softer tone. "Why would you take a risk like that on your own without me? You could have been killed Jaune."

It wasn't really a question Shirou was expecting an answer for at all just something he asked out in disbelief.

So, it was a surprise to the man as he witnessed Jaune's still pale ill-looking face brighten somewhat as he spoke back earnestly.

"I didn't care about the risk... it was the right thing to do because you don't need a reason to help others."

His voice was filled with sereneness as Jaune conveyed his basis for his actions.

The area went silent as Shirou stopped to look at the boy lying on the ground, ignoring and drowning out the noises of thrashings and roars from the chained beast down the market. His eyes soften and his frown left his face, Jaune had used such a simple and almost childlike excuse for nearly getting himself killed.

The kid really did remind at times a lot of himself in both the good and the bad. Letting go of his frustration and anger at the kid's disobedience Shirou instead picked to force on the more important matters at hand.

"Alright then... whatever you say, you crazy idiot." The older man sighed out lacking any of the heat and strength that had been in his voice while he had been telling the kid off.

"Can you at least tell me why the fuck you weren't even using or holding a weapon while you were fighting that creature when I showed up?" It did seem very odd to Shirou that Jaune hadn't used any of his tracing to help him out of that situation.

The Archer had sinking feeling of what may have occurred as soon as he had gotten a feel of that foul black gas stuff that had been released. That stuff had thrown up a bunch of warning flags but Shirou couldn't confirm if that stuff was anything like the troubling things his mind had cooked just yet.

As soon as he was asked Jaune looked shocked and mumbled something inaudible. "I can't...it...not ..."

"What?" Shirou couldn't make out a thing.

"I said that I can't project anything! Nothing happens, it won't work!" Jaune yelled back with furry in feeling so weak with himself.

Quirking an eyebrow up Shirou look confused if a bit troubled.

"Now's really not a good time to be having performance issues here kid."

A mindless roar went off in the background with screams of fearful people following it that duo didn't let phase them.

"And now is not the time for your shitty jokes Shirou!" This wasn't a laughing matter for Jaune one bit.

'What if whatever has happened to me is permanent? I spent just over four years of my life getting this far learning how trace and project and now I've could have already lost everything because of my recklessness. Will I become how was before? Nothing but a burden to everyone around me and who doesn't have what it takes and can't survive like dad said before I left.' Jaune started to freak out the more he thought about it now that he wasn't in immediate danger.

Seeing this Shirou shouted out "Okay Kid, just stay calm and tell me what exactly happened to you before I arrived!"

"That Grimm used that same breath attack that tired on you but only I wasn't successful in stopping it from hitting me. I breathed that crap in and it got all over my skin...the next thing I know I can't make anything not even something as a simple kitchen knife will work." To prove his point Jaune tired once more to project a weapon into the world only to end up with nothing but blue sparks lighting up in his palms.

Staring at his handing with nothing in them Jaune continued. "It's like there something...blocking me from doing anything, why did you think I shouted out that warning to you in the first place? I knew what would happen if it hit you too, it l-like my..."

"Like your entire access has been completely locked down and has prevented you from using your skills." Shirou cut the boy off speaking with a hard tone with a hint of wonder and intrigue in it.

"Interesting..." Shirou began to take a deeper look at the young Arc to see if he could find out what was wrong with him. "It was able to seal off your projection along with other things, I wonder if this is what that Heather woman meant in her ramblings earlier about how she couldn't use her semblance when fighting that thing before she died."

The man started to wander off within side his own head as muttered. "I never would have thought that this creature would possess something so dangerous in that it can seal people's abilities away, couple that with its powerful healing and near impenetrable fur hide, we got a real problem here on our hands."

Shirou frowned. 'How is that beast is able to do such a thing in the first place? I knew something was off about it just like the other ones I've faced in the past but where in the world did this thing and others come from?' They were not natural at all and the fact this certain creature possessed such foul presence when nearby left Shirou to believe that whatever had made such a monstrosity had to have some kind of connection in magic of the worst kind.

'Someone or something has to be making these new strange Grimm and are most certainly using stronger magic to get creative with it to even think up such an abomination. A creature that devours souls and uses them gain more strength and produce a nasty curse like gas that prevents people from calling up their abilities be it anything from a person's semblance to even projection magecraft.'

"Shirou?" Jaune called out to the man after seeing him get lost in thought. "Can you not zone out on me like that, please. Do you know what's happing to me? You gotta have some clue so will you stop keeping me in the dark and tell me."

"Well... the good news is that from what I can tell is your affliction from the gas is only temporary and won't last forever."

Jaune felt a huge relief at that news. "That's good...but how can you be sure? What did that thing do to me?"

"errrr well... in no better term I guess you can say that in a way the beast cursed you-"

"Cursed me!"

"Y-Yeah sure let's go with that for now... b-but don't worry like I said the cursed seal placed on you will wear off in time."

"Wait just back up a minute and explain more to me about how the fuck I've been cursed...y-your joking, right? Curses and all that stuff are just from old stories and fairy tales like the ones about heroes which you always say are filled with stuff to make them more romanticised for kids." Jaune was a little confused and freaked out right now.

"Look I promised that after all this shit is over with and we are at a safe place I will finally explain shit to you," Shirou informed the blonde who just scowled in anger at the same response he had been given when asking the man about Aura, his teacher's past or the man's relation to Ozpin.

 _ ***Roar! ***_

Another roar went off reminding the duo of their current monster problem.

"Alright," Jaune growled out with clenched teeth as he got himself up and walked towards the end of the roof to look down. "Are you at least able to tell me what kind of Grimm it is that we are dealing with or are you going to explain that to a later date to me as well."

Ignoring the bite in the kid's tone Shirou let it go as the boy being a teenage was bound to get mad about being kept in the dark. "Well it doesn't have a name yet but I'm going to just go ahead and dub that ugly thing the Soul Eater."

"Soul Eater? Why call it that?"

"You see the body lying around town that looked like dried up husks with those empty pits for eyes?" Getting a nod Shirou continued on. "Well, they're like that because that thing down there was sucking the souls out them and consuming them."

Both of them looking down into the market they saw the now dubbed Soul Eater finally starting to break out of its constraints with the anchored chains flying off the ground and buildings as it pulled itself out.

"You telling that beast was sucking out people's souls?" Jaune looked sick, what kind of Grimm was able to do that? A creature that feasted upon human souls sounded a lot more like a demon out of the many wacky religions and folklores Jaune had heard then the creatures of Grimm that roamed Remnant.

"How is that even possible?"

With one mighty pull, the Soul Eater ripped itself out from the many chains in blind furry as it thrashed its body around while shrieking in rage.

"Like I said I'll explain stuff to you when we are not in the middle of dealing with a monster in the heart of town that can eat a man's soul while taking next to no damage and heal what little is done to it."

Now free, the Soul Eater seemed to have almost gone completely feral as the beast started shooting off more of that black gas from its mouth. It then started running around the whole market releasing more and more of the thick black gas until the whole area down below Jaune and Shirou was covered in a dense fog of miasma and decay.

Still staring down into the black cloud that now blanketed the market square for a good whole minute, Jaune went to ask something without looking at Shirou. "Did that thing just-"

"Yep," The Archer answered before he could finish. "It just covered the whole market in a cloud of that cursed black gas and is waiting within it for us to come to it."

"It set a trap, that thing actually just set a trap for us." Jaune said in disbelief.

A simple smile broke out on Shirou's face and spoke in what Jaune assumed was meant to be some sort of accent that the boy didn't recognise. "Clever girl."

"We going to need a plan." Jaune stated.

"Don't worry I think I've got one."

"Alright what is it?"

"Well..." Shirou paused knowing that the kid wasn't going to like it. "It involves you being bait."

"...what?"

"Just hear me out!" He pleaded immediately upon seeing Jaune back up. "We both know I can't go down there since we can't risk me losing my tracing as well and by looks of things the Soul Eater is just going to stay hidden inside that nasty fog it made to conceal itself. So, we need to lead it out to better and open area so that we can take it out."

Staying silent for a bit Jaune then spoke back to his teacher in particularly dry tone. "While I can see your logic behind what you're saying Shirou... I think you have forgotten one important detail in the fact that I don't have a weapon!"

Before Jaune exploded yelling and waving his arms about. "Did it already slip your mind that I can't project or reinforce anything? That I can't even protect myself?" A look of sadness and self-loathing cast itself upon the teen's face. "Face it, old man...right now I'm nothing more than dead weight...I'm useless."

"You are not useless! Look at me." Shirou ordered and the boy obeyed.

"Jaune, right now I need your help with this. Just because currently you can't use your abilities doesn't suddenly mean all the training you put in has gone away, you can still fight all you need is a weapon to use against that things down there." He explained to the kid before putting a comforting hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"But whatever we've thrown at it doesn't seem to affect it for long or even at all. Whatever damage we have been able to do was just healed and shrugged off moments later."

"That just means I've got to give you something that will be able to cut it without that beast being able to heal the damage away."

Jaune looked at Shirou with his eyebrows raised up, disappearing above his hairline. 'What kinda of weapon could he give that could hope of standing up against that thing?'

Closing his eye's, Shirou began to search his inner world extensively for a weapon to hand over to the kid. It was clear that no ordinary weapon was going to cut it given what they already knew about the creature's strong fur and healing factor.

Meaning that Shirou was going to have to hand over something more powerful than a simple weapon over. Despite the fact that he didn't want to hand over any type of Nobel phantasm over to Jaune, the situation called for it and Shirou would much prefer that the kid had a fighting chance for the plan to work.

After searching the countless weapons, he had gathered Shirou soon found one that he thought would work well. A weapon was used to slay a famous monster from an age long gone, a gift among many given to a hero trusted by his gods to carry out such a task, possessing a trait which would definitely aid the kid in hurting the beast.

A holy sword which Shirou himself had stolen the design for when he traced many of the weapons within the king of heroes' sacred treasury. The blade itself wasn't outstanding at all really and in the hands of Jaune he doubted that the blonde would be able to fully utilise the weapon and kill the soul eater with it but that didn't matter.

He wasn't handing over this weapon in hopes that Jaune would slay the beat but in that it would help assist the kid if things turned ugly.

With that in his mind, Shirou started to visualise the weapon and began to bring it into the world. Normally forming such a weapon which was classed as a divine sword would be near impossible for him or very much completely drain Shirou but given the lack of resistance from the weakened world now the process was manageable. Not to the point where he could do something crazy like try and make a dozen copies of say Excalibur but making one wouldn't spell the end of him, just that the process could take quite a while.

Jaune didn't what was happening usually it only took his teacher less than a second to make a weapon and be off to fight with it but this time it was taking the man a good few minutes to form the object out the blue lights that weaved in his hands.

Whatever it was his teacher was making it was obviously required a lot of concentration to make.

He didn't know how or why but Jaune could feel something change in the air around him as the light took shape into a solid mass. With finally a flash of beautiful golden light blinding his vision for split second Jaune could now see what Shirou had brought out.

It had a long black pole length wooden handle with a red cloth wrapped around a portion of it, the blade was short and curved into a special shape that give off the appearance of the weapon having to be a scythe or a sickle.

'What in the world is that' Jaune was at a loss as he gazed at the weapon in Shirou's hands. He wasn't sure how but the scythe was giving off a peculiar aura that just felt so foreign to him like the weapon went beyond the natural laws of the world.

The longer he gazed the more intoxicating the feeling got. 'This feeling...I can feel the power just rolling off this Scythe in waves.' Jaune didn't even realise that his arms were already moving to take the weapon from Shirou's hands.

Before it was abruptly pulled away from his reach.

"No, no, no not yet." Shirou shook his head, not allowing the blonde to take the Noble Phantasm.

"First, we need to make some things clear here." He explained in a serious tone while looking Jaune dead in the eye to get his point across. "First is don't go messing around with this thing and DON'T accidentally cut yourself with the blade okay, trust me you'll regret it."

Getting a nodded he went on to lecture. "Secondly if your tracing returns at any point while out there fighting DO NOT under any circumstances try and trace this weapon at all."

"Why not?" Jaune was obviously curious.

"Because Jaune you are not ready and I said so." The older man used his name to convey how this wasn't a subject up for discussion.

Balling his hand up into a fist behind his back away from Shirou's gaze Jaune gave a stiff nod back in return and said nothing. Looking satisfied Shirou handed over the scythe which Jaune gingerly took in his palms as he held the weapon wondering why he couldn't stop feeling an odd sensation from.

"Alright now that we have your armed up now, we work on the plan."

* * *

Perched high on one of the many trees on nearby hillside overlooking the large tone was lone blackbird. Using its superior long vision, it was watching the young Arc and mysterious stranger take up refuge on a rooftop.

Raven had been keeping track on the duo for a long while now, ever since the encounter with Jaune all those weeks ago she had kept tabs on him on and off. Which at first had led her to the town of Dragonstail, unsurprising considering that was where the home of the Arcs had been for the last three generations. She hadn't dared follow them into the town as she hadn't wanted to risk Alex one of Ozpin's valued pawns, not that he knew that he was one, possibly spotting her.

Once she had felt the 'mark' she had imprinted on the boy leaving the town in a hurry Raven resumed her surveillance of the duo that piqued her interested.

'Although it seems I'm not the only who's has taken a sudden interest in the pair.' She thought while eyeing an old familiar looking black bird circling high above the town. Raven would of scoff if she wasn't in her bird form, it was obvious that the old man would send that drunk here to find out anything of use about the mysterious man in red and his magic.

While also probably keeping an eye out on the young Arc, considering what little Raven knew about the whole mess the rest of the Arcs were making about the boy's disappearance a few weeks ago it made sense that Ozpin didn't want to let the boy get away in case he risked losing the support that Alex brought to the table.

'I highly doubt that drunk up there was able to get anything usefully at all, If I couldn't find a way to sneak in close in my bird form then there is no way that idiot succeeded where I failed.' It became very apparent to her that the mysterious man in red was aware that he and the boy were being watched from afar.

Every time she had tried to move in and get close enough to listen in on their conversations the older male would immediately lock eyes with hers. The first time it happened it had made the feathers on her small animal body stand tall, one look from those eyes into her beady red orbs told her the unsaid message.

'I know what you are and what are you doing.'

He knew.

Raven didn't know how but the man knew that she wasn't really a normal bird that just flying about its day. Honestly, it unnerved Raven how the man just zeroed in on her like nothing, it didn't matter how far away and well-hidden she was. The man knew ever time exactly where she was and would either stop talking to give no information away or would most of the time stare her down until she left them be.

Raven had quickly found the situation frustrating beyond belief. She couldn't find any useful information about the man out and felt like she had wasted weeks trying to get something about the man that popped up of nowhere and his interested in the only male Arc heir.

The only things Raven had managed to pick from her time shadowing them was it appeared that the older man seemed to have more than a student and teacher relationship going on. There definitely was a friendship between the two but at times it looked to be more along the lines of the man being a sort of father or older brother figure to young Arc.

Speaking more of the man in red, He possessed a powerful magical energy within him that she could sense and appeared to just of popped up out of nowhere on people's radars. Raven didn't have a name to put with the man, he looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties but it was hard to tell without a good look up close. His dark tanned skin suggested to Raven that he was possible of Vacuo descent and was clearly a dangerous individual which had more than proven from his small fight with the beast attacking Cleonae.

It showed that the man was both skilled and powerful which if Raven suspicions were right then that was just the tip of what strengths the man possessed. Especially if he was the reason for Jaune having access to magic and was teaching it.

That easily put the man in red to a person of extreme interest in her books.

'I wouldn't mind clashing against him and testing him out myself. I bet he will prove to be quite the opponent.' Raven thought with a battle-hungry look as the bloodlust part of her mind came to life after she witnessed the tanned man battle that seemingly unstoppable beast.

Raven's spies out in the world had reported back her some time ago about these new strange Grimm which have started popping up all of sudden, attacking large portions of people living outside of the kingdoms. The reports she had been getting showed that the new strange and powerful creatures were becoming more and more common out there in the wilds along with their attacks, if this kept up it wouldn't be long before the four kingdoms were going to have to acknowledge this new wave of Grimm for the threat that it was.

Not that it would do much good for anyone in Raven's opinion. If all this was the queen's doing there was little much anyone could do to stop her from producing an endless supply of these abominations, the kingdoms wouldn't do much to help the people outside their walls unless it benefited them in some way or another.

These people out here needed to rely on themselves, a lesson Raven had learned a long time ago.

So, anyway Raven had followed the duo now for a few weeks with that drunk showing up not too long ago to tail them around as well. Which now found her at this point watching the duo try desperately slay the hideous Grimm and save the town.

'Fools,' She thought with a cold tone as her small animal eyes viewed the scene with indifference. 'Putting their lives on the line for such a fruitless endeavour, even if they somehow slay the beast the number of negative emotions from all the townsfolk will bring every Grimm from miles around.'

It was pointless in Raven's eyes.

Either that strange Grimm will kill everyone first or a horde will come by sooner or later and kill off the fleeing civilians.

No matter what the town was already lost.

Raven had seen it happen many times before in her years and this definitely wouldn't be any different. While there was chance the Arc boy and man in red could kill the beast and maybe even stay behind and fend off any horde that showed up, the duo had no way of helping the thousands of people in town with dozens of other issues they now faced.

They had no transport to get the people away from here and to a safe location, no way of treating the injured or refortifying the whole town from another Grimm attack. She also doubted that one teenager and one man could restore the order which had been lost, just two people couldn't keep a group of thousands in check without some resorting to crime.

But the most pressing matter would be, if the duo destroyed all the threats, the now lack of food and water for the town's people. Without the supplies being in bulk the people will start to go hungry and starve before eventually dying. In Raven's option you would be much better off just mercy killing them once that started to occur, death by starvation was a slow and painful way to go.

Despite the situation, Raven saw an opportunity. 'Once the town falls and this all over I'll go back to the tribe and has some men rounded up to see what they can salvage from the remains. We would normally never of sacked a place like Cleonae since it's a hub town with a lot of traffic between two kingdoms but if it falls, I bet we can grab a lot of valuables and supplies that can last us a long time.'

After all it wasn't like the town's people were going to be needing those things given that the days looked be numbered without any outside support to transport them out of here. 'Who should I have led the group on the scavenging party? Vernal seems like the best choice since she is my right hand in a way but I need her to keep the camp in order when I'm not around. That leaves me with picking Billy or Qing to do the job.'

'Hmmmm' She pondered on it for a while. 'Billy might be the better choice to go with, given the kid's past experiences and it will finally give him something to do.'

Billy had been stuck back at camp for a while now and was starting to get restless, giving the young outlaw something to do seemed like a smart move. Last time Raven had seen him he had taken to using things around the camp as target practice to keep his trigger finger sharp and annoying Vernal when he could.

"CAW! CAW!" A high pitch squawking broke Raven of her thoughts and the sound wings flapping reached her highly sensitive animal ears.

Feeling something same and similar in size to her form land on the branch next to her Raven would have let out an annoyed sigh if her bird form would have allowed it. Slowly rotating her head ninety degrees towards the right Raven's small red orbs beheld a similar looking bird that resembled her current form.

Its size was smaller compared to hers as its breed was a crow. The crow's feathers were smoother as well as short and straight compared to Raven's, whose feathers were so long that curved and pointed outwards mirroring like her hair. Other than that, the two crimson eyed black birds looked near identical to one another.

If anyone had been out bird watching today, they would have seen an odd sight of two blackbirds perched on a tree branch giving each other what could only be described as a death glare.

Glaring daggers at the crow. 'Of course, it would take you this long to notice me you drunken buffoon, you always were terrible at finding me when we used play hide and seek as kids.' The little standoff between the blackbirds kept going on until the small crow started aggressively flapping its wings at her and began squawking.

Raven just stared on with a deadpan at the display. 'Is he seriously drunk while shifted into his bird form? Honestly... I can believe how far you've fallen brother...your nothing but a shadow of your former self.'

The secret maiden would have kept on feeling the deep disappointment and shame at her shapeshifted sibling if it wasn't for the sudden upturn in huge magic energy, she felt spike up.

Snapping her gaze towards the source which was coming from Cleonae with the crow following her line of sight as her sibling didn't have the sensor ability, she possessed thank her hidden maiden states. Raven soon found herself watching the young Arc boy and his teacher, as the man began to crafted...something which was making Raven's senses go crazy.

The light in the man's arms glowed so bright that it hurt her eyes to not turn away.

Magic rolled off in waves that hit her like a train before the light died down and within the man's arms was a type of sickle or scythe that made Raven's head feel dizzy the longer, she looked at it.

'What is that thing!? Does he have in his possessions one of those many artifacts that Ozpin and the queen are always on the hunt for.' Even from all the way from over here she could feel the power rolling that weapon.

If Raven didn't know that all four relics were deeply locked away, she might have assumed that scythe to be one. After all she had never seen one of the four relics in person merely had only heard the tales that Ozpin would spin of their power, that object that the man was holding without a care in the world was giving a monstrous amount of this foreign supernatural aura.

As if the man held a divine weapon, maybe even a fifth unknown lesser relic made by the twin gods.

Was such a thing possible?

Raven didn't know but what she did know was that the mysterious man in red had just seemingly created a powerful magical artefact out of nothing but his own power. The implications of this were already huge and once word reached either Ozpin or the queen about this, neither would leave the individual alone and the same went for the Arc as well if he really was the man's student.

'Such power...'

The idea of Jaune reaching the same level as his teacher made Raven shiver at the thought of two men out there possessing the magic to create such powerful objects. The battle manic in her got a thrill at the idea of fight with the two of them, while her survivalist side wanted either stay clear of the pair or ally with them.

'Who are you? Where did you come from? How much strength do you hold and does it have a limit?' She stared at the whited haired man with near obsession wanting answers.

All of it had got Raven's mind wondering on what the stranger was up to in the grand scheme of things and what his plans were revolving around the Arc boy to take him from his home and family.

If Jaune Arc had intrigued Raven's curiosity before then the man in red had just become a once in a lifetime enigma that she disparately wanted to figure out.

'I wonder...' A possessive glint showed in her crimson animal eyes as Raven watched the males with a fixation, particularly on the older male, while now completely ignoring her brother who also was viewing the scene with interest.

* * *

"Alright are you ready to do this?" Jaune barely heard Shirou speak as he peered into the black abyss that now coved the marketplace.

"Sure, I'm about to jump into a thick gas cloud where I'll be barely able to see a thing while a Grimm that can apparently devour souls is going to be chasing after me across town, while I'm only armed with an oversized tool made for reaping crops and I'm still tired and exhausted from earlier. What's there to worry about?" He sarcastically asked.

"...you know that sarcasm is considered to be the lowest form of wit, right?"

"Well in that case you must be a pretty witless individual yourself then, considering how much sarcasm you like to spew out."

Shirou give a grunt back at the comment. 'Smart mouth brat.'

"You'll be fine kid; don't worry I've got your back I'll be providing covering fire with my bow for you until you've led the thing to target zone where I can blow it up."

Jaune knew the plan as Shirou had gone over it with him for some time to make sure he got it. He would steer the Soul Eater out of the densely compact and populated centre of town towards the old looking church of the maidens at the edge of town away from where the masses were fleeing. The old church had an open grass field around it with no buildings nearby apart from the town stone wall so, there was no worry of them accidentally risking people's lives if Shirou used some of his more explosive weapons.

All Jaune needed to do was just grab the Soul Eater's attention and have it chase him towards the edge of Cleonae without getting killed or the beast losing interest and going off to kill some other poor soul.

Simple plan, what could possibly go wrong?

"You're absolutely sure that the black gas isn't going to have any more effects on me?"

"Yes, I'm sure, you've already been exposed to the Soul Eater's fumes and it can't negatively affect you anymore until the current affliction has worn off."

That news brought a bit of comfort to him at least.

"Well..." Jaune hesitated to speak. "I-I best g-get a move on, someone has to do all the work here."

"Yeah..." Shirou said walking next to the kid and shifted his eyes over to him and then moved over towards Jaune's tattered red cape and ripped a large chunk off.

"What are you doing!?"

"Here," Shirou took the torn bit of cloth and wrapped it around Jaune's neck giving him a makeshift long flowing red scarf. "This won't at all stop the effects of that gas but it will at least make it somewhat better to breath while inside that fog." Shirou them pulled a part of the scarf up over Jaune's mouth to work as a face mask to filter out some of the smog so it wouldn't feel like his lung were filling up with tar all over again.

"Err t-thanks." The blonde didn't really know what to say other than he never would of thought of that.

"..."

"..."

"You want to count it up to four before jumping in, kid?"

Hidden under the mask a small smile broke out on Jaune's lips despite the fear he was feeling in his current situation in being without the abilities he'd had now for four years. "Yeah...go on then you start."

"Alight," Shirou nodded with a small smile of his own. "One for the money,"

"Two for the show," Jaune continued, his heart being to race as the adrenaline kicked in.

"Three to get ready..."

"And here we go!" Jaune bellowed as he finished of the chant and simultaneously jumped off the roof and down into the black cloud of gas until he was no longer visible to Shirou.

'Please be careful kid, don't do anything reckless.' Now on his own Shirou projected his signature bow before leaving to find a better spot to provide support for his student.

* * *

Landing on the ground in a low crouch position Jaune went to scan the area. Sadly, that proven to be more difficult than planned as the familiar stinging sensation hit his eyes and felt a light burning stir within his nostrils and lungs as they were all exposed to the gas.

He forgot how bad the black smog irritated his senses, his felt the need to blink rapidly as his eyes watered at the agitation that the beast's gas was assaulting with.

'Shirou made the right call with the mask, at least the cloth is filtering most of the stuff out so I'm not coughing and heaving all over the place.' All around Jaune there was nothing but darkness, not even the sun's light was fully able to pierce through the dense fog.

The cloud of gas was so thick that Jaune couldn't even see more than a few feet in front of them. It somehow even appeared to muffle and filter out sound as Jaune quickly noticed the loud noises made by the people fleeing in the chaos were now gone.

It was just silence.

A cold dark quiet that unnerved a person to their very core as all outside sounds was cut off.

'And I'm meant to somehow find my way out this fog while that thing is in here with me. I can't see shit let alone traverse through this mist and I bet that beast has plenty of ways to see me without relying on sight.'

Not a good situation to find yourself in.

Hearing a noise coming from somewhere within the mist Jaune tensed up, gripping the sickle-like weapon in his palms. Hastily sweeping his gaze across the area in front of him Jaune couldn't see anything nor could he hear another sound coming from the veil of darkness that surrounded him, maybe he had just imaged it and all the fighting earlier along with the mist was just making him paranoid.

It was understandable for him to be edge. After all, everything that was going on between the strange Grimm that he couldn't harm, the loss of his tracing was making Jaune stressed out and frustrated.

Not seeing any sign of the Soul Eater Jaune carefully started move deeper into the fog while being at the ready for a surprise attack. While moving he saw the broken remains of the market stands which had been destroyed in his fight with creature.

The longer Jaune walked around blindly in the fog the more paranoid he got, it felt their unseen eyes watching him within the darkness waiting for the time to strike and just made the young teenager wonder when the creature would finally show itself again.

More inaudible sounds persisted that seemed like hisses and growls went off as he kept trying to bring the Soul Eater out while still trying to find where the mist reach ended.

This kept on until Jaune could just make the noise of something heavy shuffling about in the darkness, feeling his instincts kicking in Jaune dived down to the ground out of the way.

Shortly after a large mass passed over him which Jaune didn't need to see to know what it was.

Missing its surprise attack Jaune looked up to see the Soul eater hastily retreat deeper back into the dark fog casing him to lose sight of it. A few moments later the beast appeared again darting out from a different part of the mist forcing the blonde avoid another attack.

Seeing the creature run back deeper into the fog and out of view Jaune began looking around in all directions. 'That fucking things is toying with me! Using the fog to mask its presence and strike while I fumble around not knowing where the things is.'

The Soul Eater attacked again but this time Jaune was expecting and even managed to inflict a tiny cut to the beast surprising the young Arc. He didn't think that the weapon Shirou had temporarily had gifted him would cut the beast so easily considering the hard time he had before with almost all his weapons not working apart from those twin blades.

The results of the cut towards the thing's hide on the top of its right leg got even more astounding as the fresh wound fizzled as if burning and Jaune was taken back as the foul creature let out the loudest pained roar yet.

'What the...how can such small tiny cut cause seemingly cause that much pain? It didn't even make that much of cry when Shirou took out chunks of it. What's going on?' He wondered as the beast scurried off disappearing from view in the dense fog yet again.

'Damn it! Quit running away to attack again me from the shadows.' This was getting him nowhere.

Getting fed up with the idea of just standing still waiting for the Soul Eater to inevitably jump out at him again. Jaune instead decide to say screw it and dashed off in hopes finding an exit while praying that the soul eater would give chase thinking that he couldn't stand his ground anymore.

It took a long time of running around and avoiding the beast that lurk in the fog with him but Jaune eventually able to force his way out of the fog and found himself staring down the empty street he had took to get to the market in the first place.

"I finally made it out, at last I can taste fresh air again." He wasn't able to enjoy it for long.

 _ ***Roar! ***_

"Shit!" Jaune yelled as he heard the loud and heavy steps coming from behind him within the thick gas void, not even looking back he shoot off down the street as fast his legs allowed him.

The chase was on and now all Jaune needed to do was guide the thing over towards the old church northeast of here and let Shirou handle the rest.

Wind blowing in face from the speed he was running at, Jaune zoomed past the many unfamiliar streets with the Soul eater hot on his tail as he could hear loud impacts its feet made on the ground. The sounds of the beast's howls coming from behind him made the blonde nervous. A mantra started playing out in his head.

'Don't look back Jaune, whatever you don't turn around to see how close it is! Don't look behind you.'

Jaune then processed to look behind him.

He saw the Soul Eater ruthlessly chasing him down and slowly catching up to him with its more powerful legs doing the work. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!'

Noticing something strange while cursing up a storm in that the small cut he had dealt with the odd Scythe gifted to him by Shirou hadn't closed up like the other wounds the beast had sustained.

'That's odd...' He noted before resuming putting his eyes back on the path.

Just in time as well as a crossroad presented itself, reading the signs that were helpfully placed about Jaune needed to take a left on his route. Making a sharp turn left slowed him down slightly which only further help the beast catch up as it was now practically nipping at his heels.

"Back off!" He yelled out as Jaune took a desperate swing at its deformed head. The odd cured blade of the scythe hit and sliced off a couple the hanging tentacles that dangled over the eyes and cut a line across the side of its face.

It hit made the beast back off and slowed down its speed giving Jaune more breathing room. Like the last cut this one sizzled as it appeared as if the damage done by the blade burn away at the Soul Eater.

Again, Jaune noticed that the soul hungry beast wasn't healing its wounds from the damage done by the scythe. It seemed Shirou was corrected in saying that he would give a weapon which the beast wouldn't be able to heal from, although that brought up the question of where Shirou had even gotten his hands on such a weapon the first place.

'Not the time for that now.' Taking many twists and turns down the streets of Cleonae a few civilians' stragglers still there saw a scene of a young boy that couldn't be out of teens being chased after by the monster that had befallen their town.

They watched on, seeing the young boy steering the monster away from them while taking hits at it with an unimpressive looking scythe which for some reason seemed to hurt the beast immensely. The few people who had seen that Huntress Shield lady fight that thing were shock to see the young hero actually make the monster bleed as whatever the Huntress had thrown at it had been shrugged off as nothing more than an annoyance.

A few civilians were grateful and felt great shame as they left the poor boy alone to take the monsters attention away from them so they could escape. While others didn't care much for their so-called savior and left hoping they could escape while the strange Grimm was busy feasting on the kid once it inevitably got him.

* * *

'Almost there now.' Seeing the building begin to become less and less compact and spaced out told Jaune he was heading the right direction.

Still having the enrage Soul Eater on his rear Jaune noted that the couple dozen hits he got in were definitely not at all healing conforming that whatever wounds made by the weapon the beast couldn't heal them away.

It was only shame that the Scythe he held wasn't much of an outstanding weapon in anything else other than the fact the Soul Eater couldn't heal from cuts, apart from that Jaune found it be too clunky to use. It might also have to do with the fact that Jaune didn't really train much with using a scythe out of all the weapons he had at his disposal. Since scythes were considered to be a horrible weapon to use compared to a sword or spear because with a scythe you need to slice towards you which wasn't ideal and Jaune always found them odd to use in the past thanks to the blade being perpendicular to the handle.

 _ ***Roar! ***_

Seeing the beast come up on him again Jaune was really starting to feel exhaustion kicking in, he had been given little to no rest since arriving here and spending the whole day running, getting smacked around and fighting was finally starting to hit him.

"Trace...on." Jaune huffed out attempting to projected some swords to fly behind him to slow down the creature only to remember his current plight when nothing came out.

After spending almost four years of having a limitless armoury at tip of finger Jaune was having a hard time adjusting to being without his tracing even it was only temporarily. For once it looked like it would have been a good idea to have his own weapon which wasn't projected into the world, the blonde swore if he lived to see another day that he would get his own personal weapons in the future just case this ever happened again.

Shirou hadn't told Jaune how long the effects from the gas would last, maybe even his teacher didn't know himself, but the blonde could swear that he starting to feel better with numbness wearing off and could only hope that soon his tracing would be back in full force.

"Damn, it's still not working." Jaune gritted his teeth in anger. "I could really use some help right now Shirou!"

Almost immediately after saying that a hailstorm of tiny red colored arrows rained down from the sky hitting the soul eater in the back before they detonated making the creature go off course ramming into a nearby building under construction.

The scaffolding crumbled forcing Jaune to sidestep it as the unfinished structure came down partially entombing the Soul Eater under debris buying the blonde more time.

'Not too far now, I can see it I'm almost there!' The old worn-down church was in view standing on its own completely separated from the rest of modern looking town.

On the home stretch now Jaune tried to keep himself moving but felt his left foot get yanked from under him bringing the teen towards the cold hard ground with a dull thud.

"Guh!" He grunted out as his chest took the brunt of the force making him lose his grip on the scythe. Snapping his head back Jaune found that Soul Eater had wrapped its long tail around his leg in a vice grip so tight that it was preventing the blood from flowing.

Without warning the tail started dragging him back towards the ruined building. It got even worse for the blonde as he saw the beast attempted to slowly pull itself out from the second building that they had brought down on it in same day.

"Fuck! Let go of me you ugly piece of shit!" Jaune desperately tried to kick off the tail but proved itself to be a fruitless effort as the appendage was far too strong for him to break away from. So instead Jaune went with trying to grab hold of the scythe again to cut himself free.

The Soul Eater wasn't having any of that though and pulled the boy even closer until it could finally reach him with its currently one un-trapped paw.

 _ **Slash!**_

The bone claws retracted out and strike at the boy's right arm, which were reaching for the weapon, cutting in with no resistance as its gas had disabled it's prays natural defensive field around the body.

"ARGHHHHHHH!" Jaune screamed out in pain as the beast's claws dug into his flesh with no issue and resulted in the Soul Eater getting a further grip on him making getting pulled along even easier now.

Before he even knew it, the Soul Eater had managed to drag Jaune all the way back and flip him around facing him towards it and pinned him down with its freed paw to stop any escapes.

Trapped, Jaune was stuck gazing up at the soul eater's repulsive face as it peered down at him with dark delight at finally catching its prey that put up a good struggle.

This was bad, Jaune knew that if Shirou even had a clear shot right now, the man couldn't risk firing as he may risk getting hitting his student in the crossfire or cause the soul eater to accidentally rip him apart in the disruption

'I need a way out of this.' Jaune's mind was running a mile per minute attempting to coming up anything that would get him out from under the beast's paw pushing down on his chest and remove the tail coiled around his leg. His eye's shifted back towards the scythe that he had lost grip of in the struggle. The thing had fallen right next to him probably only just a few inches or so out of reach, if only he only he wasn't pinned down by the deformed soul-sucking lion's massive paw.

A damp sensation could be felt hitting his face, it took Jaune a second to realise that the beast was salivating down on him as it had opened its maw wide making the blonde's nose turn up in disgust at the bad breath. The thing's odour smelled like a sewer filled with decomposing bloated fish.

Definitely the type of smell you wouldn't want to experience on top of having your soul already suck out.

The beast moved in close, If Jaune didn't hurry up he'll end up like the other lifeless husks of the Soul Eaters victims. 'Damn it! If only I could grab that scythe that Shirou gave me, that weapon seem to be the only thing that can cut through its impenetrable fur and can't heal the wounds away after.'

The Soul Eater's head leaned in close as it prepared to drain his very essence, it was close to him that Jaune could even just see those disturbing red eyes again between the gaps in the deformities.

At this point Jaune didn't even care for the scythe he would take any weapon.

It didn't matter if they couldn't hurt the thing.

As long as he could go out fighting instead of just letting his soul get sucked away with any sort of resistance. As Jaune started to feel something ebbing away from him slowly he kept staring into those un-responding red orbs looking back at him behind there covers.

A daring idea soon came to Jaune but he also realised that it was useless. 'If only I had access to my tracing all I would need is a simple sword for it to work.' He tried to project a sword but while he could feel the effects from the gas earlier were nearly gone it still wasn't enough for him to make anything and since Jaune owned no weapon of his own he was well and truly defenceless.

Until remembering. 'Wait a minute...Heather's sword!' Jaune immediately checked his pack and found the sword was how he had left it, in its compact travel form.

Due to all the shit that had since picking the sword up Jaune had completely forgotten he even had it. Not wasting anymore time as the feeling of something leaving his body got greater Jaune pulled out the small red object and flick the switch, the weapon shifted and transformed until a short red sword was in his hand.

"I said LET. ME. GO!

Without any hesitation on his last act of desperation Jaune thrusted the blade in-between the gaps in the hanging tentacles and plunged it right into the Soul Eater exposed eyeball.

The effects were instant as the beast screamed in pain at having one of its few exposed and unprotected spots gouged out. Jaune made extra effort to twist the blade to maximise the pain getting squishing and popping sounds to occur within the eye socket. "That's for Heather."

With the pain becoming too much the Soul Eater had no chose but to reel back removing the weighed it placed on Jaune.

Pulling out Heather's sword Jaune made sure not to throw away this opportunity and stretched out his other arm as far he could and grabbed the Scythe. Which was then used to sever off the tail still clung to his leg making the Soul Eater wail in agony allowing the young Arc the time he needed to sprint away to reach his final destination for Shirou's plan to take the creature out.

'Thank you, Heather, your sword just might have saved my life.' He thanked the deceased huntress as he ran.

Soon after Jaune finally made it, he had reached the old abandon looking church. Standing alone in the middle of the grassy field with what looked to be a cemetery within it, Jaune was busy taking deep breaths getting all the oxygen he could in this moment of peace. Those seemed to be a rarity today given all the little rest he had gotten.

"I made it." He said as sound came bellowing down the street.

Before long an erratic and pissed off Soul Eater came crashing into the nice and quiet grassy field kicking up chunks of dirt in its rage and destroying the gravestones.

Standing still with the scythe in his hand as the beast destroyed the neatly cut grass it settled in front of the church on the far side staring at Jaune with absolute unrelenting fury. Safe to say that the thing didn't enjoy losing a meal and having its tail cut off that it couldn't heal.

Exhaustion couldn't even begin to describe how the blonde felt right now.

Every muscle, every cell in his body was to arching demanding rest for the trails that been through in the last couple of hours.

Man and beast stared off at one another.

One showing the image of complete savagery and wrath while the other was oddly calm and looked to be composed.

The dreaded silences that had fallen between the two which appeared to be the evidence of yet another clash leading up was broken.

Ruined by the anticlimactic sound of a ringtone going off.

Taking out his scroll that he had turn on before his leap of faith into the gas cloud Jaune answered knowing already who was on the other side as it had been planned.

Putting the device to his ear while taking his eyes off the soul eater which was acting very cautious all of sudden. "Alright old man I did my part now it's your turn."

"Yeah you did great kid, now get clear and get to cover fast." With that said Jaune heard the caller hang up on him abruptly.

'What do he mean by "get clear"?' Jaune didn't question it for long before searching for adequate cover.

Diving behind some far away large tombstones he braced for whatever was to come next.

…

…

…

Only for nothing to immediately happen.

Peeking his head Jaune saw the Grimm like creature wasn't going after him anymore. The large beast had instead stopped still before looking off at something in the distance in the sky.

A sound reached Jaune's ears carried by the wind, something was screeching as it cut through the air. Snapping his head over he saw a bright red beam of light soaring through the sky towards him and Grimm's location aimed at the beast, the Soul Eater upon seeing it twisted its body around in the other direction facing the church and moved with fast inhuman speed to avoid being struck.

The Soul Eater escape was useless as the red beam in the sky just seemed to bounce, like rubber ball off a stone wall. It bounced, bended and curved around in the air, hunting down the beast with unfaltering accuracy.

The hunter had now become the hunted as the Soul Eater scaled up the church's wall to avoid being struck but it was no good and soon the red beam found its target.

As soon as the red-light hit the whole area was engulfed in flash followed by a devastating explosion that sent Jaune flying backwards like a rag doll.

 **BOOM!**

* * *

 _With Shirou:_

High above looking over the many buildings of Cleonae stood Shirou perched on top of the town's clock tower. It really did make for good vantage point as the could see nearly everything on this side of town that wasn't blocked from his view by a couple of tightly compact houses down on the streets.

Shirou's bow was already out in his left hand which had been used for taking pot shots at the soul eater to keep from catching up Jaune. Which had work for a while until the two of them had entered a blind spot where something must have happened because it took Jaune a bit some time to leave it and reach the point that they had picked to lay the trap for the beast.

Firing at the beast with his bow was not a simple matter either whatever type of mist the soul eater had passively around its body make hard to track. It was like the black smog it produced was somehow blocking him from being pinpoint accurate with his shots.

'Well than I have to use something else, something which will hunt it down and hit it no matter what.'

Focusing on the old church's graveyard this whole scene felt somewhat oddly familiar to him.

Raising his empty hand to the sky, he called forth the weapon he had decide on. Blue energy shot out of his palm and weaved itself into the shape of a sword with hilt facing his hand the tip pointing towards the sky.

The sword was pitch black in colour with the blade having five oval shapes throughout it starting from where handle met the blade all the way towards the tip. Loading the sword into the bow Shirou set the sting, his aim was as clear as it was going to be and didn't have time to readjust himself as he saw his student running for nearby cover behind some large and study tombstones.

So, with no more time he pulled the string back.

And then the wind screeched.

Shirou held back a grimace from the pain he felt from his wrist that had gotten injured earlier but ignored it as best he could.

The moment he pulled the sword back on the string a crimson wave of power sparked around him. The sword lit up red and transformed, no longer was it a sword but it was now a projectile weapon of mass destruction. It still held the pitch-black color but the shape of it had changed into a weird arrow with a few edges coiling around its fine core, spiraling around it and somewhat curving outwards.

The weapon which had once been used by a hero in an epic poem believed to of been the oldest piece of English literature was now Shirou personal seeking arrow of death.

Putting every bit of power, he could into the sword turned arrow Shirou was pushing the limit of how much the now broken phantasm could take without blowing up in his face. The arrow glowed an ominous red and began to tremble showing how much Prana he had pumped into it, given how much stronger his weapons were now, the discharge from this broken phantasm would exceed anything Shirou had done before.

'Let see you how well you handle this then.'

Keeping the bow steady, he aimed at the monster which had realised something was amiss while out in the open.

"Go, Hound of the Red Plains, **Hrunting!** "

A red crimson light consumed the arrow once released and it easily broke the sound barrier, creating gusts of winds to violently blow out when launched. The crimson charged magical bullet screeched in a high-pitched whistling noise that would hurt anyone's ears as it travelled towards it's intended target.

Shirou saw that the Soul Eater had noticed that it was being seeked out and made attempts to avoid the arrow but it was no good, Hrunting would keep on chasing down its target until finally hitting something.

Before long the noble phantasm found its prey and...

 **BOOM!**

That should have been the end of it but Shirou hadn't believed the resulting explosion would be so large when charging the arrow up, he never would have thought the blast would be this strong.

A huge ball of fire consumed the whole church and most of the surrounding area, the blast was strong that it shook all of Cleonae to its foundation. Considering the fact that Jaune was dangerous close to the explosion made the archer worry that he may have gotten the kid caught up in the blast by accident.

So, with that in mind Shirou made his way towards the blast site.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

All of the denizens of the town who made it outside the south gates felt the ground shake beneath their feet followed by a huge explosion going off which could be seen for miles. Looking up a few people could just make out a lone man standing on the clock tower dressed in red with his cape blowing in the wind before he disappeared from sight.

The two blackbirds watching the whole thing were also staring wide-eyed at the massive destruction caused by the stranger. He produced these powerful weapons with next to no difficulty and wielded foreign magic they didn't understand and now he had just created an explosion to rival any military dust bombs that the kingdoms possessed. The crow looked over towards Raven and squawked a few things giving the impression that it wanted Raven to follow it before taking off. Raven did follow shortly after but not before taking one last look at the man who had been standing on top of the clock tower.

'This is all shaping up to be much more exciting than I had originally envisioned. Clearly the boy and the rogue piece on the board need to be kept an eye on, most especially that man in red.' Raven noted with importance.

* * *

Groaning could be heard under some fallen rubble that been blasted away in the explosion.

Jaune who had blacked out from the blast had thrown him back and gotten him hit by chunks of rubble be it from the church or the gravestones he didn't know. His ears were also suffering from a high-pitched ringing sounding off in them making the boy feel disorientated.

"Errr...w-what happened?" Shifting around the blonde moved the bits of debris covering him up.

The first thing he saw when once that was achieved was the evening sky, he spent the whole morning in this town fighting? Unbelievable, the other thing that he noticed was these white flakes floating in the air falling slowly to the ground.

'Snow? That can't be right it's still summer.' When one of the while particles hit his skin, it wasn't cold but warm.

Almost painfully hot.

Getting up off the ground with the scythe still given to him by Shirou in his hand, he was not going to lose it again, Jaune needed to know what had happened.

What he saw answered that.

The whole section of the old church and area around it had been completely devastated. The church had been blown completely away into a smouldering heap of rubble within a crater-scarred into the earth. While half of the cemetery had been wiped out with fires raging on burning away everything they touched, pumping out black ash as they did so, making a mushroom-like cloud seep up into the sky. The stuff which Jaune had first thought of as snow was really just ash which had cooled down and carried away by the wind.

"Oh no..." That wasn't all as Jaune saw the explosion had even reached the town's sturdy wall breaking open a large gaping hole in the settlement's line of defense.

The only reassuring thing was that the Soul Eater was nowhere in sight prompting the blonde to believe they had at last taken the thing down for good.

The whole scene looked straight up like footage you find depicting a city under a Grimm attack that the kingdoms like to show to raise awareness of how dangerous and unsafe places were outside of the kingdoms. All that was missing were a dozen of Grimm running around killing people as instead all this mess was the fault of just one beast.

'Is it over?' He wanted to ask as he saw the destruction which laid before him. Things kept running through Jaune head about how this whole situation could have gone better.

Maybe if he and Shirou hadn't taken so long in getting here they could of stop the Soul Eater before it had even killed anyone, maybe if he hadn't of allowed himself to be exposed to that gas in the first place Jaune could have been of better help and wouldn't have been relegated to being just bait.

Perhaps if he was just stronger, he wouldn't have only ended up getting in the way! He was sure Shirou would of have done saved more people if the man didn't have to waste time babysitting him.

Jaune was cut off from criticising himself and all the self-doubt from a familiar noise.

" **Grrrrrrrr..."**

"No...that's impossible" He whispers in disbelief in what he was seeing. "You can't have survived! How are you still moving after that?!"

Just beyond the craters the Soul Eater slowly limped out from the thick ash and dust cloud that concealed it. Steam was rising off its fur showing it had been protected from the fire that the blast had brought upon, it looked very worse for wear compared to the mighty thing Jaune had seen at the marketplace this morning. It looked battered and beaten with its tail cut off and the un-healing cut's Jaune had dealt still there, whatever Shirou had fired really had knocked the thing down a peg or two but despite that the Soul Eater still lived.

The beast looked at him and snarled, Jaune moved to get ready for a fight but it was all naught as for the beast did the last thing he expected.

It turned away from him and started retreating.

"Hey don't run away from me you coward!" He couldn't help but yell upon seeing the monster escape using the gap in the wall that had been made to the leave the town of Cleonae. Jaune wanted to avenge Heather, the people whose lives that the Soul Eater had snuffed out. If he didn't do that than then what was point in all this? It would feel like all this effort and loss was all for nothing.

Jaune moved to pursue but instead found himself dropping onto one knee, he just didn't have anything left in him anymore. Everything had been used up and his body was refusing to let him continue on if it involved anything physically demanding.

"Damn it!" He cursed.

What was he meant to do?

This was his first outing with Shirou taking on the types of task the man said he did all the time. And he couldn't keep with the man when Shirou get serious. It didn't help that it was clear there were things his teacher hadn't shown him and why was that in the first place?

Was it because he was not ready?

'How am I not ready? I've spent the last four years of my life doing everything I can to bring myself up to this level!'

Being able to have access to everything his teacher had be it those special weapons or techniques would only help him in getting stronger and in turn help others. That was how the sixteen-year-old was seeing it anyway. His teacher had told him that he went on dangerous missions like this when away all the time.

How was Jaune going to be able to ever be of help if his current strength wasn't enough to handle the dangers Shirou face? He needed to find a way to catch up to his mentor faster in anyway necessary.

Then Jaune's eyes then slowly went towards the scythe in his hands.

It was starting to dematerialise given by the fact that blue particles of light were coming off showing that it would only stay around a few more moments.

The orders given to him about the weapon played off in his mind. Shirou had made it clear that he didn't want him trying to trace the weapon but why? A scythe that could somehow inflict wounds which can't be healed, that sounded like a very useful tool to use in Jaune's mind. Even if the weapon wasn't that great itself that strange ability more than made up for it.

'I don't like the idea of disobeying Shirou but... if I want to get stronger, I'm going to need something like this.' Jaune had given his word long ago that he would become strong no matter what.

"And Arc never goes back on their words." Besides he couldn't think of a reasonable reason why Shirou wouldn't allow him to use a weapon which would only help him deal with threats to people easier in order to save them.

So, in some twist logic on his part Jaune decided that was enough for him go ahead and disobey his teacher and went to see if the Soul Eater effects on him had finally worn off for him to trace the scythe. He pushed himself to do it as the effects were lingering but Jaune managed to do a very botched version of his usually tracing on the weapon before the scythe dissipated.

What happened next, he wasn't ready for but should of seen coming anyway.

"ARGAHHHH!"

* * *

 **BZZZZZZZ**

An unimaginable painful wave of static hit him, nothing like he had ever experienced before like back in the strange dream or trying to trace Ozpin's staff.

Jaune began to see things which made no sense at all to him.

Images of events that he could barely make out let alone understand. One showed the same Scythe he had held being gifted to a man with short wavy dark red hair and yellow-green eyes, wearing plated armor and sandals. The next image showed the same man facing off against some huge monster which Jaune couldn't even put into words to describe, it towered over the dark red-haired man, its height dwarfed that of any skyscraper.

Somehow the man overcome the odds and defeated the monster by using the scythe to cut off its head before he returned it.

The finally image had nothing to with the others.

It showed the scythe pointing out a golden looking portal along with a dozen of other valuable looking weapons that all floated behind a man depicted in golden armour who was pointing them towards some ordinary looking teenagers whose face he couldn't see.

 _ **BZZZZZZZ**_

* * *

The images came and went within a heartbeat too fast to fully process. The pain going off in Jaune's head was his more main concern as it felt like some was banging on his brain like a drum, it was unbearable making the teen wish he never attempted such a thing in the first place.

He wasn't even sure if he successfully stored the weapon.

All he had gotten for sure was pain, strange images and... a word.

"Harpe?" Jaune repeated the word that seemed stay in his head not knowing why the word stayed at the front of his mind. It didn't mean anything to him and the boy had no clue what it was meant to convey.

The word was foreign to him, it could mean anything.

'I'm really getting fed up with all these headaches and strange visions. Shirou's got to start explaining what the fuck is going on here, with me and everything else around us.' The young teen swore he would learn this immediately.

After today Jaune was fed up with tiptoeing around the topics and letting his teacher off the hook so easily. Maybe he had allowed this to go on when he was young and too busy focusing on training and having fun progressing towards his goal but no more. Jaune wasn't going to let his mentor have a free pass any longer, ever since leaving home and the argument with his family all those weeks ago, it felt everything had changed.

"Kid!" Speak of the devil, "There you are I've been looking all over here trying to find you, I thought the explosion may have gotten you but I'm glad I was wrong." Shirou was also carrying there travelling bags that they left near the gates, he must have picked them up at some point.

Seeing the kid didn't even look over to him when speaking, Shirou frowned.

"Jaune... are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jaune answered back in monotone thinking Shirou was talking about the claw wounds on his arm.

"Are you sure kid? Your nose is bleeding."

"Huh w-what?"

Jaune touched nose and saw that indeed it was bleeding as fresh blood smeared across his fingers.

Strange that wasn't there a moment ago.

Had the headache from the attempted tracing cased that?

That had never happened before.

"I-It's nothing I must have hit it when I got blown away in the blast." He lied before looking over at Shirou. "The plan didn't work by the way, the Soul Eater still somehow survived even after everything we threw at it."

"Yeah, I saw it retreating off away from here. I really thought that my arrow would more then be enough to turn that thing into nothing but ash. If we ever run into it again, I'll have to use something much stronger on it or come up a better strategy but we need to forget about the Soul Eater for now because we got another problem." Shirou said and then threw Jaune's traveling bag at the kid which Jaune caught.

"What is it?"

What more problems could they possibly have?

"There's a horde of Grimm on their way here."

"What!?" That got Jaune's attention. "You got to be kidding me right now."

"All the negative emotions have brought every Grimm from nearby right here and there will probably be more on way from even further when they get here, follow me and see."

Jaune followed Shirou all the way to the gap in the wall they had made and soon he saw them. Dozens of Grimm made up of Beowolfs and Ursa coming out of the woods ready to assault the town which was now easy pickings after what the fight with Soul Eater had done.

This wasn't good at all.

Just more bad news to add on an already shit day.

"What we going to do? Most of the people are already outside and there's a hole in their wall so the Grimm can just pour right in even if we get them back into the town to protect them," Jaune asked worried on what to do for the innocent people.

They just spent half the day fight and replaying away one threat only for another to pop up and show itself. Jaune already exhausted and he didn't know how well Shirou was doing either.

"I don't know, I mean I can take care of the Grimm easily enough but with this large gap in the wall means they been wide open for another attack at any time and we can't stay here long enough for them to fix it." Shirou wasn't sure on what to do next.

The town was lost that much was certainly after he had blown a hole in its wall accidentally but the people could be saved if-

"Wait a minute what's that?" Jaune pointed over to the sky and Shirou followed to see multiple bullheads flying in formation.

The sounds of their engines filled the air and Shirou could see the sigil of the kingdom of Atlas riding proudly on the airships that were clearly armed to the teeth. The moment the bullhead closed in their mounted machine guns opened fire cutting through the Grimms ranks in droves.

"What the heck are Atlas ships doing all the way out here?" Jaune asked confused.

"A good question." Shirou replied. He didn't recall anything like a distress call getting sent out nor were the kingdoms known for helping out independent settlements.

Were the kingdoms leading a hand because Cleonae was a busy hub town? If so, why send Atlas to help out instead Vale or the Mistral that were closer for sending their own aid. Maybe the Atlas ships happened to be nearby and were the first responders.

But what had tipped them off about Cleone?

Had Heather call for help finally been reached? Perhaps a call for assistance from a Huntress carried more weight to get a response.

Shirou needed to check his scroll to see if any news of what had happened in Cleonae had reached the Kingdoms for them to send part of the Atlas army all the way out here. Maybe the kingdoms had become aware of the new Grimm popping up out in the wilds that posed a very large threat to them.

"People of Cleonae," A female voice could hear blaring out of all the ships loudspeakers. "This specialist Winter Schnee of the Atlesian military. We have come here to assist you and provide care and aid to those who need it."

* * *

A bunch of the airship began converging over towards the large gathering of the civilians that fled out through the south gate. Atlesian knights jump off the ships still in the landing with large thud scaring a few of the civilians as robotic soldiers began rounding everyone up to make space for the airships to land.

Once they touched down the doors open and from largest and most important looking ship walked out a tall woman with white hair. "Greeting everyone as you all heard from the speakers, I am specialist officer Schnee of Atlas and me and my man are here to help evacuate you all from this location to a secure site in Vale." Her voice was straight to the point and overly polite which was amplified as her voice was still being broadcasted out the speakers that even Jaune and Shirou could hear the women talk from the other side of the town.

"Why the fuck is Atlas here helping us?!" A random elderly voice shouted out from the crowd, not trusting anyone form Solitas remembering the problems its people caused back in the war when the Kingdom of Mantle was still kicking.

The white-haired woman maintained her composure despite the hostile tone aimed at her and few looks of suspicion sent her way. "As I just said we are here to help as per my orders were given to me by my superiors. They had been reports received of this settlement being under attack and was about fall to the Grimm so I have been sent out to here take you all somewhere safe."

"What took you so long?!" A woman cried out holding an infant child in her arms. "My husband and oldest son are dead! If you had gotten here faster you could have prevented so many of our loved ones from dying!" A large portion of the crowd yelled in agreement making some of the Atlas troops fiddle with their guns worrying that people they had come here to save might riot against them.

That comment did make the Schnee lose a bit of her cold and calm mask showing a sign of remorse. "I am sorry for your loss ma'am truly. The same for the rest of you but we got here as fast we could! We are here to save you."

"What a load of shit! Don't act like as if you care about the people we've lost, you didn't know them so don't pretend that you did." A young middle age man in crowed step forth. "You Altas boys only just showed and now you're already acting like you're our saviors where it was the efforts of some kid half my age running around distracting the beast so it wouldn't attack us and that older man that was with him to fight that thing. If it wasn't for them our numbers would be half of what they already are!"

People in the crowd who had seen the two individuals that the man spoke of began nodding their heads muttering about a young teenager with white and blonde hair along with a man dressed in a red garb. Many of them had seen one or the other fighting the monster that had befallen their home trying to help them when thought more about it they realised that none of them had seen the duo return here to the now safe zone.

Picking up on the muttering Winter frowned up the mention of a teenage boy possessing white and blonde hair. It couldn't be the person her mind immediately jumped to, what would they be doing this far out east within Sanus in the first place?

Never the less she turned to face of her men. "Lieutenant take a hand full of troops and do a quick sweep of the town to look for anyone that could be in there. If you find signs of anyone, I want you to report it back to me straight away, understood?"

The Lieutenant appeared confuddled there orders were only to evacuate the immediate civilians and get out of here even if it meant leaving some behind. Searching the town went against those orders as they had been told to leave it be and let Grimm take it as they didn't have the manpower to hold a town the size of Cleonae. Never the less the man complied with his commanding officer and set forth doing a very fast sweep of the place so they get out of here as soon as possible, he wasn't getting paid enough to die out here for a bunch of people that were just asking to be attack by Grimm for not living within the Kingdoms.

With the small scouting parting moving out Winter nodded her head. "Good, now the rest of you secure the area and start getting these people on the dropships. Tend to any wounded you find and shot any Grimm that gets too close, I want us to be up and back in the air in less than an hour!" She yelled with rest of her man quickly following the instructions given to them.

Back over with Archer and young male Arc they had heard everything that being blasted by the loudspeakers.

Jaune for once looked to be relieved at the arrival of the Kingdoms forces, with them here it meant that people would be safe and taken away from here. Maybe the Kingdoms were finally stepping up and helping settlements that weren't just a part of their domains or just benefited then, although he did it a bit odd that Alas ships now only just arrived after so long.

Had the councils within the kingdoms delayed sending support as to allow another settlement to fall to keep reinforcing the idea that the Kingdoms were the only safe place for people to live in?

Jaune rid his head of such questions and instead look at the brighter side for once. 'I guess it doesn't matter right now as longs those people make it out here safely.'

Meanwhile, Shirou was still was searching his Scroll for any information on the news about if the cause of Cleonae situation was even known. He couldn't find anything but what he found instead was much more troubling for him personally and made it that if the Atlas scout part found him and Jaune things might end badly.

"We need to leave." Shirou stated with absolute surety with a hint of panic to his student as he went to rush far away from Cleonae.

"Why?"

"No time to talk about it, we need to leave now Jaune."

Shirou kept moving not looking back at the kid and starting making his way through the large collapsed gap in the wall that the Soul Eater had used to escape the town.

"No."

Now that reply made the man falter in his steps, when Shirou turned around he saw something he hadn't seen before. Jaune was glaring at him with what was clearly a level of anger and frustration that he had never seen the kid aim at in all there four years together.

Jaune stood his ground at the man he always used to follow without question. "No, I'm not leaving with you not until you tell me why we need to leave so abruptly? For the past three weeks I've tried asking you questions about stuff but you've kept just putting it off. So, I tried being patient for you to explain things but after what we just went through today, I think I have bit of a right for a least a basic answer to something."

It seemed Jaune finally reached his limit and couldn't keep his blind and unquestionable loyalty going anymore for the man who had helped and given him everything to become who he was today. "You haven't answered any of my questions and I can't just keep following you around Shirou if I feel like I'm in the blind here!"

Jaune shook his head. "I can accept you not talking about your past I mean I'm the same with not wanting to talk about some stuff but you haven't told me what in world that Soul Eater thing even was, is it a Grimm? Are there more out there just like it? How was it able to be damaged by some weapons and not others? How was it actually able to stop my tracing?"

Jaune kept ranting on about things he felt that his teacher was either avoid talking about or plain just keeping from him. "What about the headmaster at of beacon, what's your deal with him anyway? Or how about that Aura stuff my mum was talking about? You even stated to Heather before she died that you're not a huntsman. Why can't you just tell me this stuff instead of always putting it off?"

"I feel like you don't trust me even after everything we've been through together." He whispered out looking down with a bit of sadness. "You still haven't told me what's those weird visions and images I kept seeing back from the headmaster's staff were. What's happening to me Shirou? I'm getting worried about it."

Shirou was stunned.

He didn't think him putting off that stuff till later had gotten to the kid that much, it wasn't that Shirou was trying to keep massive secrets from the boy, well not any longer anyway, he just didn't want to answer some of them right now because of the prying ears that been following them since around leaving Drgonstail.

Shirou did instead to finally explain things fully to young lad since he thought the young Arc was mature enough to fully grasp the information he would be told and the fact that Jaune did deserve to know. Shirou just needed to do it in a safe and secure place where those little birds or anything else wasn't watching.

And given what he had just seen on his scroll Shirou knew where they should go next. Looking at the device had thrown a wrench in his current plans and were now forcing him to changed them because of taking Jaune with him out of Dragontail.

'I guess I've gotten so use to Jaune just blinding doing as I say because of his weird deep admiration towards me since he was a child that I kinda didn't think it really bothered him that much, I thought he would be fine just waiting but it turns I was wrong.' Seems like that childlike worship Jaune had for Shirou where the boy put on a very high pedestal was coming down.

That could be seen as a bad thing as it made harder to get the brat to do things he wanted to be done but given the fact, Shirou had known Jaune since he only a small twelve-year-old boy it was kinda endearing in seeing the boy turn into a young man standing up to him. Instead of just following him around by coattails all the time.

It was sort of nice for Shirou to see the little kid he had formed a bond with grow up and do things for himself.

"I'm...sorry Jaune I didn't know that was how you felt about what was going on."

At the rare apology from his teacher, Jaune lost a bit steam and rubbed the back of his neck. "I-It's fine I just...I want to know what's going on Shirou, I feel so lost in all of this. I mean you said you did dangerous task likes this when you left every couple of weeks, are all of them like this?"

"Pretty much but I will say this one has by been the most destructive and hardest one I've faced since starting them." Shirou sighed thinking of what next to say in order to sort this situation out but still get them moving far away here. "Look I know I haven't been revealing everything to you but I have my reasons, I really did and still do plan on telling you what I can once we reach somewhere away from people listening in on us. But right now, I need us to get out of here because if those Atlas men find us, we may be in big trouble here."

"Why? What could possibly cause them to give us trouble?" Jaune asked. He hadn't done anything that could piss of the Atlesian military...that he knew of anyway. The way Shirou worded it made it sound like they were criminals or something.

Shirou looked on conflicted on whether or not to disclose the information he had just stumbled upon when searching his scroll, that had finally gotten clear signal now they were out of the dense wilds.

In the end Shirou relented believing that the kid had right to know about this and would start to make amends for the confidentiality on certain matters.

Taking out his Scroll Shirou turned the screen on and showed Jaune what he had seen to cause the man to want to leave in a panic.

All the other stuff that Jaune wanted answers for seemed to become insignificant as he stared at the device that shoved in his face. His heart rate doubled in speed and could feel his throat dry up like a lake in the heat of the Vacuo deserts, a pit of anxiety rooted itself within his gut.

The device showed a news headline reading.

 **"Ongoing Braking News – Only son of renowned Huntsman Alexander Arc, Jaune Arc is missing! Authorities in the kingdoms are searching for the sixteen-year-old and it's rumoured that he is accompanied by someone. Willingly or by force we are unsure at this present time as Authorities and the family have yet to reveal more. We will keep you all updated as this story continues to unfold."**

Gazing at the bold text Jaune's body went completely rigid, his mind trying to process the information he had just read.

"Fuck..." Was the thing Jaune could bring himself to utter out not trusting himself to speak properly. "F-Fine let's get out of here but you still have to answer my questions later."

Looking back to his mentor and seeing the older man nodded his head in acceptance the teen reluctantly gestured for Shirou to lead the way out of Cleonae undetected while Jaune kept quiet to stew on news that people were searching for him.

By the time the Atlas troops had finished their search, they had found only a few straggling survivors who hadn't made to evac zone yet ,which they were now escorting back, and a lot of dead bodies with lifeless eyes which they left in the streets. But found nothing else so in the end Winter got her all man together and soon left the now fallen town of Cleonae after they had crammed all the survivors into the Bullheads and took off leaving the site.

Not knowing at the time how close she had just been in finding the missing Jaune Arc whose family was starting to tear Remnant apart looking for him and using their resources and pull in some social circles to get the kingdoms to make an effort in finding the Arc.

0-0-0

* * *

End

 **Not going to lie I'm not 100% happy with this as it didn't really turn out how I wanted to in my head but that happens with a lot of things. I didn't want the chapter to be this long and had considered splitting into two parts but what I had wrote intended it to be one whole chapter so, in the end, I went with that.**

 **Bittersweet thing with the Soul Eater, they didn't kill which if you consider the fact that I took inspiration from the Nemean lion shouldn't be too much of a shock since that thing was very tough to take down and there only two versions of the story of how Heracles killed it in the first place. I don't think you've seen the last of it as I have something maybe planned much later on the story about it but we'll see. Anyway, Jaune and Shirou fended off the Soul Eater and saved many lives in the process but the town of Cleonae was lost in the end. I had originally wanted to Jaune use Gáe Buidhe but Lord Rikudou said to go with Harpe so, in the end, I went with that, I had also had much darker ending planned at the end but scraped since the next chapter wasn't going to fit or match the mood that it would have left off with.**

 **Anyway, I tried to show Jaune has started to stop blindly following Shirou and being an unquestionable apprentice who keeps his mouth shut and dose whatever Shirou tells him to do because of his worship towards the man for what he did for Jaune in his childhood at his most desperate time. I think that is an important thing that needs to happen in order for Jaune and Shirou's relationship to get better with each other.**

 **To FGO players good luck with Merlin coming up I wish you the best on your rolls for cock wizard and wish me luck as well for I too will be going to hell that is the gacha for him and his OP bullshit. On another note which servants are you looking forward to trying and get next year?**

 **But a happier note I got Scathach on the Thanksgiving banner, YES! It's a sign that I must keep going with this story for the glory of Shishou!**

 **Anyway here's some previews.( Please note that these are still a work in progress and may change or be cut all to together in the time before the next chapter is posted.)**

* * *

"...Your a scumbag Jaune...and a coward."

* * *

When Jaune got no response from Shirou he spoke up again. "Hey, old men are you there? It's me, Jaune. Did you not recognise me due to the disguise?"

"No... I-I knew it was you, it just... took me a while to adjust to your new look is all."

"Oh, I thought maybe my disguise was so good that you didn't even know it was me but still how do I look? Is it good? No way anyone will spot me looking like this."

Shirou answered immediately in a deadpan voice. "You look like an arrogant prick."

Jaune's now red eye orbs blinked in surprise at that unprovoked insult.

"Hey! What's that meant to mean?! What's wrong with it?!"

* * *

"Are you looking for a fight sis? Because your starting to really piss me off!"

"I'm not looking to fight you at all Mordred but if your looking to start a fight, I will be the one to finish it."

"Stop it! The both of you." Olivia ordered her two younger siblings as she tried to keep the peace.

* * *

"Alex...?"

Ozpin was unable to say anymore more before being slammed into the wall behind him.

The force was so great that even part of the wall gave in from power dealt from the Head of the Arc family.

The headmaster found himself pinned by the enraged blonde.

"Why didn't you tell me Ozpin!? I thought we had a deal, I trusted you!"

* * *

Sitting down Shirou took a deep breath before leaning forward putting elbows on his knees and interlock his finger together. "I guess I should start off by saying I'm not a Huntsman like you thought I was..."

His eyes didn't look up to met the blonde's. "I should said this a long time ago and got it out the way, you see Jaune..."

Jaune didn't say anything back as he waited for the man to continue on, his heart rate increase in anticipation and anxiety at whatever would come next..

"I am a mage."

* * *

The man looked up at her from his seat with a grim expression like her mere presence was far too unbearable to stand as he held a drink in his hand.

"Raven."

He reeked of boozes, so bad that the fumes made her nose scrunch up in displeasure of the odour. It was exactly the same as she remembered him, her brother hadn't changed at all in these last few years.

Still an alcoholic mess she couldn't bear to look at.

"Qrow." she replied in a cold voice that mirrored his perfectly.

Both pairs of crimson eyes stared off at each other making the people around take notice of the rising tension between the two and they slowly edged away.

"We need to talk."


	8. C8-Complications and a change of plans

**Authors notes**

 **Back again after way taking too long to update... again.**

 **So yeah pretty much the same reason as last time for why it's taken me so long to post another chapter is I've been busy dealing with stuff such as classes and work. I've pretty much had little free time to write on any my stories, I'm still trying to get the next chapter Jaune's dragon witch sister done but having trouble.**

 **Doesn't help that Devil may cry 5 came out recently and I've been playing the crap out of it in most of my free time. I absolutely love it (Currently can't say if I like this one more then DMC3) and am now on Dante must die mode.**

 **You could say that...I'm absolutely crazy about!**

 **Anyway, I feel like I should apologise somewhat for how long my last chapter was. I have noticed that my chapters are becoming too long and think I need to look into forcing myself into shorting them. I reckon this issue started for me when I first started writing this story as this was my first time writing anything on here, I didn't want my chapters to be way too short as I don't enjoy really small chapters. But I now have the opposite problem of writing way too much and probably mostly redundant crap that isn't needed, so I think I need to look into it and maybe improve. (Note this chapter was mostly already written before C7 was posted so that's why it's still long.) It didn't help that at the time I was reading someone's story whose chapters updates were massive, like sometimes in the 40k area, but the story was really good so think that may have had an effected on me.**

 **Whatever, so anyway this chapter gonna really be mostly** **character context and that kinda stuff. There had meant to other stuff going on in this chapter but it either got cut or it's been moved to the next chapter. I.e. a certain someone finally coming into the story which is long overdue.**

 **As always big thanks to Grim of Brennus Hopes, AlucardTheDragonicGod and Lord Rikudou for taking the time to check over this chapter for me. It much appreciated.**

 **Warning my spelling and grammar is most assuredly bad, no surprise there.**

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

 **Disclaimer I don't own RWBY or the Fate series**

* * *

Chapter 8 – Complications and a change of plans.

It was no secret to anyone that knew him well enough that Jaune disliked most forms of transportation.

From a young age Jaune had always suffered from motion sickness, it was first found out years ago when he was only just a little four-year-old going on his first trip to Vale with his family.

They had taken a bullhead ride there with the infant Jaune sitting on his big sis, Arturia's lap at the time per his requests to have her hold him. Thirty minutes in traveling up in the air was when the turbulence had started to hit.

Jaune had ended up vomiting all over his older sister's shirt much to his shame and embarrassment at the time with an amused seven-year-old Mordred laughing her butt off upon seeing it all play out.

That had marked the day when the Arc family found out that Jaune suffered from motion sickness and oddly enough they also found out, that his twin sister Jeanne had a fear of flying.

The young little girl at the time didn't understand how such an aircraft could stay up in the air and was scared of it plummeting to the ground at any moment.

Thankfully nowadays, due to all the traveling Jaune had done with Shirou in the past couple of years, the blonde had learned to deal with his motion sickness by now. As long as he kept focus or paid no attention to his dizzy head or upset stomach, he wouldn't end up making a mess by vomiting everywhere.

The train that Jaune was currently riding on was traveling right through the continent of Anima; speeding down the tracks without any problems. The window next to him displayed dull and empty fields, small settlements and rough wilds flying by as the train passed them all on its journey.

It had only been a few days since the incident back in Cleonae which had led to the fall of the whole town.

He and Shirou had successfully avoided the Atlas troops back in Cleonae and snuck off into the wilds. After finding out the news about the fact people were searching for them or more specifically him, Shirou had decided that the situation called for them to change their plan and halt their Journey of traveling around Remnant taking care of Shirou's tasks.

Apparently, now Shirou was taking Jaune to another place the man owned and had mentioned briefly when they had left Dragontail.

Turns out that his mentor's little hideout happened to be deep inside the continent of Anima.

So, the duo had ended up needing to travel even further east until they had reached the edge of Sanus stopping at the coast. From there they had boarded a ferry to take them across the sea to Anima while taking measures to assure no one got a good look at him in case of someone recognised the missing son of Alexander Arc.

Thankfully the ferry ride had been uneventful with no one identifying him as the missing Arc, or maybe the people here just weren't aware of the current news going as they were too busy with their own lives and personal problems to care about some big shot Huntsman's missing son.

Although Jaune had noticed something odd happing to him since leaving Cleonae.

Ever since attempting to trace that scythe, he had been experiencing a constant stream of painful headaches which came and went that felt like his brain was splitting. When sleeping, strange dreams of him being in that cold dark empty plane with the glowing sword haunted him.

The Arc refused to say anything to Shirou, though in fear of his teacher finding out that he had disobeyed him after being specifically told not attempted it.

If it was any consolation the Arc did regret his rash actions, if only due to the possible damage he had done himself. And going by the painful spells of migraines something had happened to him.

Once setting foot on the foreign soil of Anima, Jaune and Shirou had started taking multiple trains to proceed on their journey.

From there they had only taken the trains for the rest of their journey, only stopping to change trains or catch some sleep.

'Funny, I always wanted to someday go abroad and visit the other Kingdoms for myself but now that I'm here near Mistral I'm having to avoid it.' This was actually Jaune's first time leaving Sanus as he had never left his home continent with his family when some of them had traveled abroad, preferring to pick staying at home more since it meant he could put more time into his secret training with his mentor under his family's nose.

Adventures with Shirou prior hadn't taken him beyond his homeland's borders as his parents definitely would have noticed a very long absence from home that would've taken longer than a month or two.

He had only barely gotten away with his time spent away from home previously.

There was only so much he could get away with by lying to his family at the time that his blacksmithing apprenticeship required long field trips to learn more about the trade.

Anyway, currently inside one of the many train compartments available, Jaune was on his own.

Shirou had wandered off somewhere to scout the whole train...or something like that.

It didn't matter to the blonde right now as he really needed a few moments to himself to fully come to terms with everything that was going around him recently.

Which was hard given that the young Arc had gotten more paranoid the longer he and Shirou travelled.

It had pissed Jaune off that his family, pissed **THAT** his father, had branded his name and face over the news like that. 'It's basically fucking blackmail now! He's ruined everything I had planned with Shirou! My dad's actions have made it so that I now can't go anywhere without having to check over my shoulder at every possible turn. He's stolen what little freedom I ever had!'

The runaway Arc was constantly worried about the possibility that any random person he passed on the street now could recognize him and ship him back off to his family.

So, in order to counter that from happening as much as he could, Jaune had tried to hide in plain sight.

Changing his whole attire, Jaune had ditched his combat outfit and stuffed it away into his bag, the garb gifted to him by Shirou was just too eye-catching to walk around in with normal people about. So, instead, he donned on his casual clothes in an effort to make himself look as unremarkable to a normal civilian teenager as he could.

Which in Jaune's personal opinion he had succeeded in.

Having on only his usual big baggy hoodie which concealed away his muscular frame along with his jeans that he wore back at home all the time made the young Arc look very dull and unimpressive when compared to his other look.

The blonde was never really big on fashion and having big expensive clothing, preferring to just go with what was comfortable to wear in the end.

While he sat down Jaune had his hood pulled over his head hiding most of his face from view in an attempt to further conceal his identity to stop anyone finding him out. The hood cast a shadow over his face and the only thing visible to anyone was Jaune's white fringe poking out.

If anyone was to look at the hooded teenager in the compartment, they would think the boy to be some typical hoodlum or delinquent with pure white hair before moving on not wanting to associate with him. After all, it wasn't uncommon for people that young to be into crime or gangs given the reason how well-known Mistral's lower class are renowned for.

It wasn't a well-kept secret that Mistral along with the whole of Anima had the biggest unground crime ring out of the other kingdoms.

Pushing down the nausea he felt by being inside the moving train Jaune tried ignoring everything else around him and stayed focused on the scroll in his hands.

Ever since the reveal of his disappearance from home that had been shown on the news, Jaune hadn't stopped checking out the stories that people were putting out about it. His curiosity wouldn't let him ignore the reports involving himself and his family. Jaune had seen dozens of people's speculations and opinions regarding his departure from his home.

With the public not getting any information on what actually had happened so far, it led to people's imaginations to take hold and make stuff up.

It was safe to say that Jaune hadn't liked what he had seen at all.

The stuff people were coming up with was either complete bullshit or media outlets trying to put an interesting spin on the whole story to create some type of drama for their audiences.

The scroll in Jaune's hands soon lit up.

The headline almost took up half the screen, as if to show how important the news was even after how long this story had been going for. Bright white letters on red banner standing proudly out to people should they chose to tune in, and Jaune mostly did.

He hadn't stopped checking this particular news story since becoming aware of it.

'Ongoing breaking news: Jaune Arc still missing!'

Jaune couldn't take his blue eyes off the screen as the news reporter appeared after the show's intro of moving graphics and images.

" _This is Lisa Lavender, reporting to you from the town of Dragontail where a conference is to be held by the police chief of Dragontail soon. Finally, more details should release about the missing Arc heir and we have also been informed that Mr. and Mrs. Arc will be present during the event making their first public appearance since the whole ordeal began."_ Hearing about his parents got Jaune's complete attention.

" _It has been almost four whole weeks now since the reports of Jaune Arc, only son of Alexander Arc, was announced missing."_ The reporter said. _"Mr. Arc reported the disappearance of his son to authorities two whole days after his son not returning home and being unable to locate him."_

An image popped up next the reporter showing both a younger outdated photo of Jaune with a full head of blonde hair and then switching to a picture of his father all geared up in his Huntsman's attire. _"Immediately the police here launched an investigation in an effort to find the young boy setting up a large search party to swipe the town and its surrounding areas."_

The news then showed a clip showing dozens of police officers walking around a dense forest at night with flashlights and posters in Vale being put up as the reporter kept talking. _"But even with their efforts, they have been unable to find anything on the whereabouts of the young sixteen-year-old. There has been word that Alexander Arc has now gotten desperate enough for the renowned Huntsman to start pulling on his connections to get the Kingdoms councils to step in and assist in his search."_

Worry gripped Jaune's heart at that.

How much sway did his dad actually have to get the councils to hear him out? He knew from a young age that his father is considered to be a semi-important person given that his dad worked very closely with the headmaster of Beacon but this seemed a little much. Maybe Jaune should have paid more attention when growing up to what was going on in his family instead of just spending all his time focusing on what Shirou could show him.

It might have given Jaune a clue about what his dad had at his disposal that could assist in finding him instead of avoiding the man as the years went on.

" _The kingdom of Vale has offered its support for the time being with police within the city of Vale checking the city for the boy and posters being placed but many believe that this action from the council may be because of Alexanders Arc's closeness with the headmaster of Beacon. The other three kingdoms have yet to offer as much support as Vale is handing over, with them yet to act and only giving out minimal effort in the search to find the missing Arc."_

That gave Jaune some reassurance. 'Looks like heading over to Anima was the right call.'

If Jaune had stayed within Vale's section of the world, then he may have already been caught by now.

Seemed that the other kingdoms weren't going to insane efforts to find him like Vale was, they probably didn't see the point in wasting so much time and manpower looking for just one boy.

Even if said boy was the son of a renowned Huntsman. The councils of Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo were only willing to put in a small effort to satisfy his father meaning it was less likely for people of Anima to be aware of who he was.

Atlas and Mistral were on completely different continents so they would doubt a young teen would make it so far to get into their lands. While Vacuo's government had very minimal control over its people to get them to do what they wanted.

The images cut off from the screen returning to the light purple haired women as she now stood on some random street with people going about their day in the background along with some stores in the shoot that Jaune was familiar with in his home town.

 _"Despite all the effort going into finding the boy, a lot of people have been left with questions regarding the reason behind Jaune's sudden disappearance and with the family and authorities not being forthcoming with possible reasons has left many to speculate."_ Jaune didn't like where this was going.

He had already seen some of the stuff people had come up over the news to explain away way his disappearance.

" _Sources here in town have told us that Jaune Arc was seemingly a quiet and reclusive young boy who didn't make much contact with people here in Dragontail or was known to socialise at all."_ A part of Jaune wanted to argue with that statement but he knew that it was true. _"People say that they often saw the boy heading out to the outskirts of town for hours on end and was last seen by witnesses to be heading home from that location in a what some have described as a type of black body armor and a red cape with part of his blonde hair colored white, it has made some believe that the young man may have been meeting with someone in secret."_

Jaune bites his lip. 'I knew it! I knew that walking through town in my combat outfit was a bad idea and people seeing me come back from Shirou's place would cause trouble for me.'

The newswoman seemed to pause for dramatic effect. _"If this theory is true, did someone manage to persuade and get the young boy away from his home and family? Or could this be the case of a person seemingly getting close to a lonely son of a well-connected and wealthy family to kidnap him away against his will?"_

'What!' Nearly dropping the scroll at the last comment Jaune caught it before it could hit the ground. 'People are honestly saying I might have been kidnaped?'

What other stupid rumors could people be making about his disappearance?

Why was the news saying all this for? Wasn't it meant to spit out the facts and not hype up gossip to create drama?

 _"Although considering the lack of a ransom and no signs of a kidnapping showing up during police investigations has made others think that Jaune Arc ran away from home of his own volition."_ A dark look then made its way on the reporter's face. _"Which would only raise more questions as to why the sixteen-year-old would flee from his home and family. Some other news sites have been going so far as to suggest that it could be possible that Jaune Arc was running away from an abusive home life to escape from it, but there is no evidence to support any of those theories either yet."_

The sound of the scroll being strained could be heard as Jaune's grip on the device became iron clade as he ignored whatever else the reporter started saying. He was aware of those stupid false news articles that were attacking his family. The fact that people would even suggest that his whole family had mistreated him in such a way pissed the blonde off so much that he wanted to punch whatever person would dare say such a thing.

Jaune knew that he had problems with his family but would never ever say that he was being abused at all. Maybe one could say neglected but even Jaune wasn't sure he would agree with that.

After all, in retrospect, he couldn't say that he had lived a tough and horrible life to anyone. Compared to what Jaune had seen in his travels with how some people had to live dealing with poverty, living without food or a home. He had grown up in a somewhat middle-class lifestyle, never going hungry and had a roof over his head.

Even when his problems with his family had started and they began to drift apart, he had Shirou there for him while some kids he had seen didn't have anyone thanks to losing them due to Grimm attacks making them orphans.

The image of a bloody and dying Heather flashed into Jaune's mind. The woman had said she was a mother and that meant that a little girl somewhere had just lost her dear mom. Jaune couldn't even think how he would react if he found out that his mother had died

His parents had never hit or so much as raised a hand against him or any of his sisters, June was a kind mother who would never intentionally hurt her child as the mom of the eight would rather die first then harm one of her children.

His father...while Jaune and Alex had avoided one another for some time now and had become distant for it, he could still say that the man wasn't a monster that would hurt his own children.

The only thing you could class as Jaune's father of hitting his children would be when he trained with them and they got hit by the practice swords but that was something to be expected when you spared against one another.

Heck, Jaune had even caught glimpses of his father reading and telling old heroic stories to his baby sister Rose, who from what she had told him enjoyed her story time with her daddy very much. Especially since the man didn't get to do it a lot because of his work keeping him from home a lot of the time.

So, while he and his father's relationship wasn't great, Jaune was aware that his dad wasn't a monster that some people were trying to make his father out to be by saying the man was abusive and that was the reason why Jaune had run away from home in the first place.

'Why can't these other people mind their own business! This doesn't concern them at all. What's going on between me and my family is our problem to deal with, not something for others to watch and judge us for.' It really pissed Jaune off that these people couldn't keep their stinking noses to themselves.

If people were going to talk about this, then they should speak about what was really going on and not spin everything out of portion. He hadn't run away from his home because of abuse or any of that rubbish which could explain it away.

Jaune had left because it, in the end, was something he needed to do. He wanted to achieve his dream and his family was only going to hinder that right now until they either accepted it or something else happened to change things.

Was there some resentment towards his family?

Yes, but more towards how unfair he saw things. To him, he was the black sheep and the one that was unworthy and strong enough to meet his father's expectations.

Jaune was pissed that his family was treating him like he couldn't do what he set out to do and that they didn't believe in him, He hated how they were trying to control what say he had in how to live his life.

Was there a part of him deep down that wanted there to be some sort of payback to befall his family? Sadly, Jaune would be lying if he said that wasn't true but he didn't at all think that any of his family deserved to be harassed by the news and attacked over false things they hadn't done to him.

If anything, it sounded like these people saying such rubbish were just trying to make this whole story more interesting to get people to view their sites since it seemed that no one had any true facts to go on and what better way to make things interesting then by saying that a renown Huntsman's family had a dark secret.

A headline scandal like 'Heroic Huntsman Alexander Arc is an abusive and neglectful father!' would attract a lot of traffic towards a news channel or site.

Jaune believed that he had heard Shirou bitterly say something along the lines of that people love to build up their Heroes just so they could watch them get torn down.

That statement fit pretty well here.

The only good thing Jaune could see was that it looked like not a whole lot of people were really buying into the fake stores about his father other than a few people out that that clearly didn't like his dad to begin with.

The missing Arc was unable to think on the subject and get even madder any longer as the news lady's voice brought him back in. _"We will now be changing over to the live press conference at the police station on the matter for further updates on the case of Jaune Arc disappearance."_

The screen changed over to a packed room full of reporters clamouring around a podium which was littered with microphones. From off screen, the chief of police walked in accompanied by Jaune's parents.

The camera zoomed on them while photographers wasted no time doing their jobs as the camera flashes illuminated the three.

Jaune immediately took notice at the state of his parents.

His mom was wearing a simple blue dress but looked like she hadn't put much effort into finding something to wear at all and looked very uncomfortable to be in the room. She appeared haggard and tired, like she hadn't gotten much sleep in days, a far cry from the usually energetic and smiling woman Jaune had knew his whole life.

His father was wearing a neat looking suit that looked new. Jaune could see that his dad was holding his mother's hand to comfort her in the environment she clearly didn't want to be in. The man didn't look too much affected at all to be in the room and Jaune guessed that his father was more used to stuff like this but the boy couldn't help but feel like it wouldn't kill his dad to show some concern.

The stone face made the man look like he just didn't care about what was happing or the fact that his son was missing.

The chief of police waited for the flashes to die down before leaning into the microphones as Jaune's parents stayed behind the man. _"Good morning, everyone, I'll keep this all very brief about our search for Jaune Arc. I'll begin by saying that in terms of the boy's whereabouts we are still unclear as to where he is or could be."_

Jaune saw a whimper from his mom at that statement being said out loud which a lot of people noticed. You could see on the camera Alex support his wife by holding her as the chief went on. _"We can confirm that Jaune is not within the town of Dragontail any longer and have reason to believe that given the information provided to us by the family that he may be traveling with someone who he has been in contact with for a couple of years now."_

" _Do you have the identity of this person?"_ A female reporter shouted out.

The old police chief didn't show to be bothered by the reporter interrupting him. _"No, we have no clue who they are other than the suspect is believed to be male. The man who was in contact with Jaune told the boy that he was a Huntsman which we can conform to be false as we have no records of any other Huntsman taking residence here in Dragonstail."_

" _How can you be so sure? Maybe this person was a rogue Huntsman that didn't allow themselves to be known in the town and do you believe that they may have taken the boy away by force?"_

 _"True, I can't be hundred percent certain that this person didn't just conceal their Huntsman status but if they are a rogue Huntsman then by law they are technically not viewed as true Huntsman any more by the council or the Academies and are little more than mercenaries at best."_ The police chief was now starting showing his irritation at the one reporter who kept talking when she wasn't meant to.

 _"As for the last part, we do not believe that Jaune was kidnapped but more was led astray by this individual to go with them under deception but a possible kidnapping won't be ruled out by us yet. We are in talks with the Vale authorities to have them help with the search to bring Jaune home safe but I can't say any more on this matter any longer due to it being confidential in the investigation"_ The group of reporters started shouting out questions to the head chief of police of the town but the older man just ignored them and continued on with his schedule.

 _"But before I go Mr. and Mrs. Arc wanted to give out a message."_

A whole lot of reporters simmered down one by one as the Arc couple took the podium. Jaune got a sinking feeling in his chest knowing who that message was for but couldn't stop himself from leaning forward.

Alex, being the more confident one out him and his wife looked straight into the camera right into Jaune's eyes almost like the man knew he was watching. _"Jaune...son if you are out there listening to this right now or at any other point in time, I'm asking you to stop this. Stop traveling with this person you are with and come home."_

The man spoke out in a loud commanding tone which cut right to the point

" _You can't trust them or anything thing they say to you, I know that you think you can but you can't so please, for your sisters and mother who are worried about you, contact us or the authorities so we can find you."_ Jaune bites his lip at the little speech with what his dad was saying playing with how he felt about Shirou keeping stuff from him.

It felt like he was having to pick who to trust out of the two male figures in his life.

Shirou or his father.

The man who he had first looked up to and ended up putting down this path he had found himself on to make the family name proud. His father who Jaune had wanted to be everything like until Jaune had failed and deemed wouldn't ever be ready for the life as Huntsman which had hurt him a lot at his young age.

Versus the man who had _literally_ popped up out of nowhere at his most desperate time to help him, Shirou the guy who he knew very little about in terms of the man's past but the young him hadn't care as kid Jaune only cared about getting stronger for his dream back then. The man who stayed by him despite everything and who Jaune would have blindly followed and trusted completely but didn't trust him back enough to explain what these strange things that were going on. Be it the Soul Eater, the strange images he kept seeing recently or the business between Shirou and Ozpin.

Jaune hated it!

Picking between his family, his own blood or the friend who had been there and helped him.

Why couldn't things have turned out simpler? Why couldn't he have just convinced his father to let him get trained by Shirou after the man had stop teaching him, then everything would have tuned out okay and Jaune would have had the best of both worlds.

Still have Shirou as his teacher and friend while not end up lying to his whole family.

Back to the news, the next thing that happened was surprising as June Arc, his mother took the mic. _"J-Jaune...I'm sorry."_ The woman whispered out.

'What?'

Clearly given the look from his father his mom wasn't meant to be speaking given the state she was in.

But never the less the head of the Arc family let his wife continue on to get what she wanted to say off her chest.

" _...I s-should have been a b-better mom...I should have noticed early what y-y-you were going through and done something when I finally did."_ June stammered out while taking deep breaths to control herself, the mother of eight had clearly forgotten about where she was or just didn't care for the reporters in the room as she looked at the camera right into Jaune's blue orbs.

" _I-I should have tried harder for y-you but I didn't and I'm so sorry that I f-failed you."_

'Mom?' Mixed emotions swirled about in Jaune's chest as he watched.

 _"I know that you're angry with us, with me, a-and I'm sorry we shouldn't have shouted at you or at each other about what happened. I know that you're out there somewhere and that you might not want to see us again if you've gone to this much trouble to not be found but...please..."_ The desperate tone in his mother voice was something no son wanted to hear ever.

Watching his mother pleading on live TV just hurt too much for Jaune to handle and got even worse as her eyes watered but Jaune refused to look away. He had made his mother feel like this and it would be wrong to turn the scroll off while she is giving this message out to him.

" _Please just come home...o-or just lets us know that you are alright and safe wherever you are. Please that's all I want is to know that my son is fine and happy out there so just call or message your family Jaune, we miss you."_ Once she was done his mother walked back away from the stand with his dad giving her a hug.

The reporters though couldn't let it end there and began firing off questions at the couple as they tried to leave. One man in blue put his microphone at the retreating parents. _"Mr. Arc! Dom Bell of Atlas Today. What do you have to say about certain publications claiming that the reason your son left was that of mistreatment from you?"_

Jaune's father just looked at the man with controlled anger and simply said. _"Those are nothing but lies generated to slander my name by people who do not like what I stand for or they wish to ruin my career in those hit pieces they have published."_

 _"Then why did your son run away from your home? What event occurred to drive away the only son of Alexander Arc away from his family? Were you responsible for it or involved in any way?"_ Being stared down by a fiery glare from Alex made the reporter want to run a mile in the other direction.

 _"The reasons behind my son's being missing are many and are too complex to delve into but more importantly they are a personal and private matter which my family will deal with once Jaune is returned to us safely. I have nothing else to say on the matter other then we will find him no matter what."_ With that said the couple kept moving.

 _"Mr. Arc! Is there any truth saying you disown your son to make one of daughters heir to the family and that's why he left?"_ A reporter yelled out.

 _"No! Of course not! I would never do such a thing to my son and his birth right."_ Alex shot the claim down immediately.

Nearing the exit another reporter jumps in their way, wearing red and shoved a microphone in June's face.

 _"Excuse me, Mrs. Arc! Nathen Al-Jilani from Vacuo international."_ He introduced himself and who he represented, Jaune recognised the name as one of those sites which had been spewing those hit pieces out on his family. _"Does your tearful apology towards Jaune have any ties to the rumors that you may have been abusive or neglectful to your only son? Do you think that you are an unfit parent? Do you believe that you should lose custody of your youngest children for their safety?"_

The reaction from his mother was the woman finally bursting out into tears.

'That fucking asshole!' Rage filled up with Jaune at the nerve of the man to say such things to his grief-stricken mother, who was clearly at her most vulnerable in her whole entire life.

How dare that man say something like that!

Jaune knew that his baby sister Rose was safer with her mom and dad than ever being dragged away into a care home.

To insinuate that his younger sisters were in danger from their own parents was complete rubbish.

Seeing the man make his mother weep like that made Jaune wish he was there so he could beat the crap out of the reporter.

" _You piece of shit! How dare you say that to my wife's after what she's going through! What is wrong with you?!"_

" _Argh!"_

But it turned out that Jaune didn't need to do it as he watched his father live on camera punch the reporter right the face. That was definitely something the blonde didn't think he would ever see as his father had always shown to present himself properly in front of people to uphold the Arc family name, but then again no one had been stupid enough before to dare insult his mother right in front of his father.

As he watched the reporter fall to the ground holding his bloody nose, Jaune couldn't help but smile. For once in a very long time, he was actually happy and dare he says... proud of something his father had done.

The camera's in the press conference abruptly switched off and changed over to a nice looking news desk with a man sitting behind it. _"Well...it appears w-we have been c-cut off from the news going in Dragontail for the moment so we will have to get back with Lisa at a later date for updates regarding the missing Arc."_

Jaune frowned at the abrupt cancellation that stopped him from getting any more information about what was going on surrounding his departure from his family and home.

The man now on the news screen cleared his throat and began talking with Jaune only listening in half-heartedly. _"Good morning, I am Cyrail Ian and in other more recent breaking news. Reports of more White Fang violence have been occurring in Mistral and Atlas lately. Word spreads of the town of_ Cleonae falling to Grimm as refugees are sent to Vale. _Also, a high-ranking Atlas councilmember was found murdered recently in his mansion with his heart torn out followed by more troubling news coming from settlements near the north of Vacuo of Children being abducted under mysterious circumstances. We will have updates on all these stories and much more later on in the show but first, we will be having a quick break-"_

With a press of a button, Jaune switched off the news and promptly dropped the scroll beside him before taking a deep sigh while leaning backing into his seat trying to sink into the comfy cushions.

He wanted to forget everything just for a few moments.

Forget about how his world had been flipped upside down.

Forget about all the horror and troubles out there in Remnant. About the fact that he essentially was on the run right now and most of all.

Forget about the guilt that came back with a vengeance after seeing his mother cry for him to come home.

'I just want to forget it all. Just. For. Five. Minutes.'

But he couldn't.

The painful knot in his chest wouldn't leave him alone to allow him to be in peace. Like a poisonous serpent was in his chest and coiled around his heart slowly dripping venom in.

Sluggishly Jaune pulled his scroll back over to him and click the contacts.

[Texts received 100+]

"That's a lot, I wonder-"

[Missed Calls]: 64

Mum [21]

Dad [5]

Olivia [7]

Arturia [4]

Mordred [10]

Jeanne [11]

Lilly [2]

Lucy [3]

Unknown [1]

"Oh..." Jaune had kept his Scroll switched off for the first three whole weeks when traveling with Shirou, he hadn't been able to stop and check his notifications in the last few days as well due to all the moving from place to place after fleeing away Cleonae. He had sort of expected some kind of messages from his family in that time but...didn't think nearly the whole family would be reaching out to him.

'Mum calling me the most isn't a surprise given how she is, and with what I saw on the news it's clear that she's worried about me and wants to know where I am.' Ones like his twin sister and Olivia trying to contact him should have been foreseen, given that Olivia was the oldest child in the family and more mature so of course she would try to contact him to talk him into coming back home.

With Jeanne, it was the case of the girl being his twin sister and because of that, the two had been very close at a young age until Jaune and her starting pulling off into different directions in life. She had been forced to stay focus on important things like training or combat school lessons and when Jeanne was home Jaune was gone, usually out with Shirou which he preferred doing than being with his twin. When he was next to Jeanne it was always awkward between them ever since their father chose to keep training her while the man had dropped him.

In the end, Jaune just tended to stay away from Jeanne, for the most part, to save them both the uncomfortable silence.

'Dad calling me is a shocker I didn't think the man even had my scroll number, guess I was wrong or maybe mum just gave it to him instead, who knows?' Jaune was sure he and his father hadn't spoken over a scroll call in years, back when he was only a little kid and his mom would put on the line to say hello and goodnight to his "daddy" while the man was away on some Huntsman missions...like usual.

'Mordred? I have no clue what she sent, maybe just stuff about threating to kick my ass if I don't answer.' That sounded like his third oldest sibling.

Arturia along with Lily and Lucy had most likely tried to call him as well just see if he would answer to any there attempts to reach out.

His thumb hovered over the call button 'Should I ring them up? Just to tell them that I'm okay? They are my family after all but...'

A battle waged deep within him.

One side wanting to ease his mother's worries just a little after seeing her like that just now and to maybe get things at home to calm down a bit so no one was panicking over something as simple as him. Maybe Jaune could even clear things up and get them to put a stop the whole search that was on his head.

The other part of him was being more pessimistic towards the entire idea. The second Jaune called his family something bad would happen, maybe they had a way to track his scroll location or something like he had seen in the movies. He had already tried talking to his family once and look where that had ended up, nothing but a huge shouting contest. No way they would listen to him, they would just ignore his desires just like last time.

Jaune had tried to make them see what he wanted to do with himself but they didn't want that. So, it was his own families' fault if they suffered and worried about him now that he was finally gone, right?

A deep frown came to Jaune.

Was it right?

To make his whole family go through what they were going through right now.

The panic, the sadness, the guilt, the pain and the harassments and attacks from the media. Was all of that justifiable in making them all suffer through? Because a dark part of him, no matter how much Jaune hated it, wanted them to receive a sort of punishment for what they had allowed to happen to him growing up and to become the outcast within his own family.

Was this just karma doing its job? If so then it didn't feel very fulfilling or satisfying for Jaune at all in what was meant to be him reaping the rewards over the rest of the Arc family.

So once again Jaune asked himself the question.

Was it right?

"No..." The teen admitted while still looking at the scroll in his hands. His mind flashed to someone like his baby sister and Jaune wondered with everything going on how it was negatively affecting Rose.

Jaune's finger went to dial the number of his mother's number to check up on her and to just talk to her. Hopefully hearing the voice of her missing son would help the grief-stricken woman in assuring her that he was okay.

At least that was what Jaune was going to do until...

'" _ **Huh, at least you're telling the truth... for once."'**_

'" _**Don't lie!"'**_

'" _**Jaune, please stop dodging the question and going around in circles, why won't you just tell us what we want to know? No more Lies!'"**_

"' _ **Why should we believe anything you to say to us now?'"**_

The voices of different members of his family flashed through his mind when they had called him a liar and wouldn't listen to a thing he had to say.

Jaune slammed the device into the cushion seat next to him and abandoned the idea ringing home. Slumping back into his seat Jaune decide to just swallow down the guilt and bury it deep within for the time being.

While letting his family go on without word from him at all for much longer, possibly extending the pain and hurt some of them might be dealing with for who knows how long.

The boy let out an exhausted sad sigh. "... you're such scumbag Jaune...and a coward."

* * *

The moment the train stopped at the station outside some small looking town the door to Jaune's compartment opened and Shirou stepped in.

Observing at the gloomy looking teen the man couldn't help but ask out loud. "What's wrong? You look even more depressed than usual."

"It's nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing." Shirou fired back before shaking his head.

"Look I know that you're not happy with me recently due how things have been but you can still talk to me about what's bothering you Jaune."

Peering at the tall tanned man, who now wearing some casual attire as well which consisted of a plain black long-sleeved button-up shirt accompanied with a red jacket with simple black trousers.

"...I was watching more of what the news was saying about me and my parents appeared on it."

"Ah..." Shirou simply responded understanding now why the kid was looking more dejected than when he had left him.

"My mum was crying Shirou, on live broadcast begging me to come home or at least call to let everyone know that I'm okay after the weeks I've been missing."

"Are you going to contact them? Just to let them knew your fine at least." The kid's mother's reaction sounded like what Shirou would have expected from a woman whose only son had been missing for nearly a month.

Shirou didn't want to sound too hopeful when asking the question.

Back when they had first left Jaune's home town he had contemplated about trying to get his student to message his family back so they clear things up but didn't in the end since Shirou could see that the blonde had been far too pissed over what happened in their shouting match.

He didn't dare try and make Jaune contact his family by force as after Cleonae and the whole Soul Eater thing he and the kid had been on the rocks around each other at times. 'I would like to avoid causing any dispute between him and me from happing until we make it to my secure place and explain things.'

Shaking his head at the question Jaune replied. "No, I'm I... I just can't right now. I'm not ready to speak with any of them again at this point in time."

The blonde still couldn't separate his mix feelings on his family, all the years of buried rage and resentment wouldn't leave him that easily even after seeing his mother in pain.

Shirou didn't bother trying to force a change of heart on the boy and just let Jaune be with his decision. "Alright then I won't push the matter anymore for now, but we need to get off at this station, we still have another train to catch when it shows up in a few hours."

Groaning escaped from Jaune's lips as he slumped back into his seat. "Another one? How many more trains are we going to have to board?"

"Just the one and that will take us the rest of the way there."

Getting up out of his seat Jaune grabbed his bag with his stuff in it and followed after Shirou as they both made their way off the stationary train.

"What was the name of the place you said you were taking us to again?"

Shirou began to lead both of them away from the station and into the small looking random town to kill some time. "Misaki town, I have property over there for us to lay low for a bit. It's a nice and quiet place right next to Wind Path, the city north of Mistral itself."

"You're taking us closer towards the kingdoms? Is that really such a good idea?" This seemed like a big risk to Jaune.

"Someone could recognise me given the fact that my face has been put out there on the news for people to see."

Shirou didn't seem worried. "Mistral is probably the best Kingdom you could be getting closer to as this whole region is the home of the largest crime syndicates in all of Remnant making it the place where all un-savoury characters go to remain undetected."

It all was true that the land of Mistral had become a melting pot for thieves, thugs, assassins, smugglers and all sorts of criminals to mingle together. Some of those criminals had even worked there ways up into the high ends of society making corruption run deep in law and government.

Authorities that weren't corrupted had a hard time cracking down on these people as they had to find them first.

And in Mistral, there are plenty of places to hide if you know where to look.

"Besides kid, despite what you might think not everyone in the world cares about the troubles of other people and are much more worried about dealing with their own problems to pay attention to the happing's around them but..."

Shirou stop and Jaune did the same, they both now stood in the middle of the random small town with faceless people walking by going about their day.

"Just to make sure you don't get spotted while traveling with me." The white-haired archer then presented Jaune with a couple of hundred liens. "Here take this."

"What I am meant to do with this?" Jaune asked as he took the money.

"Use it to change your clothes and disguise yourself better."

"What's wrong with how I am now?" Jaune inquired getting a frown in return.

"Because walking around with your hood up to cover your face makes you look suspicious to everyone," Shirou whispered to not alert any of the people walking by. "Also, the fact that your family have given a description of what you could be wearing, have shown photos of you and saying you might be traveling with someone means the odds of us being found are increased the longer you stay like that."

"Well, what the fuck do you suggest that I do to fix that?" Jaune demanded with a scowl.

"Buy some new clothes, style your hair or dye it maybe? I don't know just do something to make yourself look different until we get to my place."

"Fine then." He wasn't happy with it but Jaune agreed in the end if it meant stopping people from finding him. "What are you going to do in the meantime?"

"I am going to get us something to eat and resupply." They had used up nearly all their food and water they had for traveling just getting here.

Understanding their current tasks both men walk off in search of completing their goals before the next train arrived.

It took a bit of exploring but Jaune eventually spotted a store saying out front that it sold clothing and cosmetic products. Walking on in the teen chose to reluctantly ignore the 'No Faunus' sign that was proudly displayed and chose to keep his head down before setting off to get his hands a disguise.

'Got to make myself look as unrecognisable as possible while making sure it's not obvious to everyone that it's fake.' He told himself before spotting an expensive looking black jacket that caught his eye in the clothing section along with a small stand displaying eye colored contacts lenses on the other side of the store.

'Jackpot.'

* * *

A few hours later...

Waiting by the train station Shirou had gotten all the supplies he needed for the rest of their journey.

The tanned man wore an unhappy expression on his face, this small town that they had stopped at had no establishments open that sold any healthy and fulfilling food at all. If he had the time Shirou would have wiped up something himself but alas he couldn't with the time constraints posed on him with getting Jaune over to his residence in Misaki town.

So, given the issue that he and the kid hadn't eaten anything for hours now Shirou had to swallow his pride as a chef and purchase something he loathed with a passion.

Fast food.

In his hands were two wrapped burgers that Shirou was trying set aflame with his glare. Dripping in grease and fat with cheap melted cheese squished between the meat and the bun these things couldn't be called food to Shirou. He couldn't understand how anyone could eat something covered in such unnecessarily high levels of cholesterol.

It was a heart attack waiting to happen!

But desperate times call for desperate measures as they needed to eat something to keep going.

'The sacrifices I have to make for that kid in buying some manufactured disgusting cooking. I hope Jaune knows the horrors I'm going through right now when thinking about putting this in my mouth.'

Speaking of his smart mouth student Shirou was starting to wonder if Jaune had gotten lost somehow in the small town.

"Shit, I hope someone hadn't actually recognised him." He whispered in worry that someone had gotten a glimpse of Jaune and knew that the kid was the missing Arc or worse that someone from the criminal side of Mistral had taken the kid so they sell him back for ransom.

"Shirou," Thankfully those fears vanished as quickly as they came once the sound of the brat's voice reached Shirou's ears.

Twisting his head to look over and expecting to see Jaune the older man nearly had a heart attack at what he saw and he hadn't even touched the fatty bugler yet.

'What... the... fuck...'

Shirou's mind broke down for second as his brain couldn't process what it was seeing.

Coming over to him in a fast place jog was Jaune but now looking ridiculously similar to a certain king of Heroes.

Taking a good look at his pupil Jaune was now wearing a black biker jacket on top of a long-sleeved orange V-neck shirt. The bottom half of the kid's new outfit was a nicely tailored dress up pants with a small metal chain hanging out of his left pocket along with a pair of leather dress up shoes.

The whole outfit looked pretty expensive for Jaune's tastes from what he knew about the kid.

It appeared to Shirou that Jaune had also temporarily dyed the white fringe that had made him stand out. It was now a golden blonde so that it matched up the rest of his hair. The boy had also taken some steps to changes his facial appearance to make it harder for people to compare him with Alexander Arc, first Jaune had restyled his hair so that his golden locks were spiked all the way back with only a single bang of hair hanging down going across his left eye.

The final piece of the disguise and the one that had Shirou's eyebrow twitching was that Jaune was wearing a pair crimson colored contact lenses to hide away his distinctive pure blue eyes that he had gotten from his father.

All in All, the whole new getup made the young Arc completely unrecognisable to the images and posters which were shown to the public. Shirou noted that it maybe wasn't enough to fool someone who knew Jaune closely, for example, him and the kid's family. After all, he had been able to tell that it was Jaune upon seeing him even if the new look had taken Shirou a moment or two to realise it was his student.

Plus, the disguise didn't change the teen's voice at all but as long as someone very familiar with Jaune or his family wasn't looking extremely close at the boy then the disguise would do its job.

'But why the fuck is he dressed up as that golden prick! Is the universe conspiring against me? By first having a woman that looks identical to Arturia and now having my own apprentice doing a bad cosplay of the King of Heroes in his casual attire.'

"Um, Shirou...are you okay?" Jaune's voice came out, stopping in front of his frozen teacher.

The young Arc had spent the last few hours trying to work on his disguise in a private bathroom in one of the shops by changing his clothes and dyeing his hair.

In Jaune's opinion he had done pretty well, he looked almost nothing like how he did before. It's shame that his eyes were extremely uncomfortable due to wearing the contacts but Jaune was willing to ignore the pain until he got to Shirou's place where he could remove the whole disguise.

In Shirou's own secret opinion Jaune looked ridiculous although that may be his own bias playing in. As he said to himself before it was like the kid was doing a horrible mimicry of Gilgamesh only Jaune in no way had the commanding and dominating presence that the King of Uruk had, nor the absurd levels of arrogance and selfishness. The red contacts he was wearing also didn't possess the inhuman snake-like slits that gave off a mysterious radiance that made people wither.

When Jaune got no response from Shirou he spoke up again. "Hey, old man are you there? It's me, Jaune. Did you not recognise me due to the disguise?"

"No... I-I knew it was you, it just... took me a while to adjust to your new look is all."

"Oh, I thought maybe my disguise was so good that you didn't even know it was me but still how do I look? Is it good? No way anyone will spot me looking like this."

Shirou answered immediately in a deadpan voice. "You look like an arrogant prick."

Jaune's now red eye orbs blinked in surprise at that unprovoked insult.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! What's wrong with it?!"

Shirou just shook his head and didn't answer the teen.

Handing the kid his food Shirou turned away and began walking back to the platform to board their final train on their journey.

* * *

 _Town of Dragontail, Arc household_

"Mom seems to be doing better." The soft voice of Mordred spoke out to the other blondes next her as they all stayed hidden from view.

Mordred and her two older siblings were spying or as they would prefer calling it 'Checking up' on their mother to keep an eye on the Arc matriarch after what had happened early today at the press conference.

When peering in on their mother, all three elder sisters had been given the comforting and heart-warming sight of June Arc sitting down at the Kitchen table as she held her youngest daughter Rose on her lap dotting over the little girl, feeding her and helping the four-year-old color in some drawings.

The mother of eight looked to be somewhat her normal self when interacting with Rose, like the woman, hadn't been distraught for the past month concerning the whereabouts of her son at all.

But the three of them could see that June was just putting a strong face in front her youngest child and seemed to be using little Rose as a kind of coping mechanism by coddling her a bit too much at times.

They all knew that it wasn't healthy for their mom to be acting in such a way but no one had the heart to ruin what little peace their poor depressed mother had found.

At least Rose didn't seem to mind her mom taking the time to play with her so it wasn't all bad.

They had all watched the scene go for almost half an hour now, finding it both touching and sad.

"Your right Mordred, after all that has happened, I didn't think mum was ever going to get out of bed let alone smile again and show some form of happiness." Olivia wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not that June wasn't still a complete emotional wreck right and was acting close to normal once again.

Then again, the woman had already had nearly four weeks to scream and cry her eyes out in fear about where her son could be. The first few days had been torturing for the mother Arc but things had only kept getting worse as their search turned up nothing, when they looked over the town and when their Dad got the police involved and they failed to find anything was maybe when June had hit rock bottom.

All three of them remembered seeing the dead look in June's eyes and how she walked around the house like a zombie still trying to do her daily chores in an effort to pretend nothing was wrong. It wasn't an experience any of them wanted to see again, none of the Arc girls enjoyed seeing their mother in such pain and they had to lie to Rose that her mother had come down with an illness in an attempt to explain away what was wrong with their mother.

"Don't be so surprised you two," Arturia looked at June with pride for the strength her mother was showing in this hard time. "Mother is being strong for everyone. She is doing her best to keep herself together and not let this whole situation completely control and destroy her."

"But still...it's strange to see her like this after everything that's happened."

"What were you expecting to see?" Arturia asked them.

"I don't really know." Olivia took her gaze off her mother. "Maybe mom locking herself up in her room and taking out the old family photo albums while crying over any pictures that she found of Jaune when he was younger."

That seemed to be the sort of thing one might have envisioned for the caring mother due to the circumstances.

Mordred's face scrunched up in confusion and she looked over at her older siblings. "Wait? We have a photo album?"

Olivia and Arturia gave her a dull look at her ignorance.

A playful smirk etched itself on Olivia's lips. "Yeah it has photos of us all as kids, I'm pretty sure there's one rare picture in there of you wearing a sundress that mom put you in when you were little." She teased her younger sister with information about such an embarrassing image.

The color drained from Mordred's skin. 'I need to find this album and burn that photo!' No way was she going to leave evidence of her, Mordred Arc, wearing a dress for people to see.

"Come on," Arturia spoke up, still keeping her voice low. "Let's leave Mother to enjoy this peaceful moment she has found... because we all know that it won't last long."

The blond females walked away from the kitchen and into the spacious living room which didn't feel very full of life because of the depressing mood that was hanging over the Arc household that refused to be lifted.

"I still can't believe that the old bastard ordered us to stay here. Who does he think he is?"

"Can you please stop calling father that Mordred." Olivia frowned at the girl. "You know that he told us all to stay here for the time being to help and support each other, especially mum, as a family through this upsetting ordeal." Though the eldest sibling couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed about the whole situation.

Being forced by their father to stay here, especially when she had a place of her own in Patch to take care of.

"So what? Is Jaune not family? Because I can't see how we are all meant to be here for one another as a family when one of our members is missing." Mordred snapped with a glare before directing it away over towards the closed curtains blocking the view of what was going on outside. "I have half a mind to say screw it and just drive right through whatever reporters are still stalking outside and put myself to work on finding the little brat myself."

"And how exactly do you plan on aiding in the search?" Arturia asked with a delicately raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms under her impressive bust.

"You're not a trained tracker or an investigator Mordred so it's doubtful that you would discover any leads on Jaune's whereabouts that the police couldn't find themselves. You running around randomly on your bike isn't going to do anything so just trust that the proper authorities and father on this matter."

"Trust him? It's that old bastard's fault that this mess is happening to begin with. He's the reason why Jaune ran away."

"Not this again." Arturia's face showed anger and frustration. "You're always doing this, looking to blame Father for anything and everything that goes wrong," She said with distaste at her younger sister while talking.

"And now you're using this opportunity to attack him even more. All in an effort to put Father in a bad light just because of your own personal feelings towards him lately."

Mordred wasn't put off by her older sister's words and only challenged back. "So what? You know I'm right about all this."

Arturia could grit her teeth at her fellow blonde before supplying. "He's already hurt about this Mordred! There's no need for you to twist the invisible dagger that Jaune left behind when he ran off."

"She's right Mordred." Olivia chimed in. "Smack talking dad and criticising him about you saying how it's all his fault isn't going to help anyone. If anything, It only causes more problems and hurts Mum, Dad and the rest of the family in the end."

"Whose side are you on Olivia?"

"I'm on no one's side sister but I must admit that you are too much forced on shifting all the blame on dad here for stuff that we are all guilty of."

The youngest of the three was looking at her older sisters in disbelief at what they were saying. How could they defend their father? In Mordred's eyes, the man was almost complete at fault here for the mess that was going with a little bit of the blame falling on Jaune since he had run off with his tail between his legs after the confrontation with the whole family.

It mostly pissed the girl off because she wanted a rematch with the brat as she and Jaune's fight hadn't had a definitive winner before it got interrupted. Despite the fact that it looked like she was going to lose, Mordred was confident that if a rematch happened she would do better due to now knowing that her little brother wasn't such a weak pushover as she had assumed to believe in all these years.

Still, the tomboyish Arc shook her head in disappointment at the two. "I can't believe you two... 'he's hurt'? I haven't seen that old bastard shed a tear all these weeks upon finding out Jaune was missing." Mordred countered. "All the while the rest of us here are worried about him with Mum and Jeanne having it the worst with them crying their eyes out and all in during the past couple of weeks."

Jeanne hadn't taken the news of her twin disappearance well.

The girl had ended up blaming herself about Jaune's situation in that her brother had felt the need to hide secrets from them and that he felt the need to run away.

The young girl had gotten it into her head that maybe if she had tried harder to keep Jaune and herself closer things could have been better. Instead of allowing him to push away from her because of the guilt Jeanne had felt due to being able to keep going on with her huntress career over him not getting to follow his dream.

The fact that her twin possible hated them all for everything and that it may have been all her fault, to begin with, due to her showing more promise at that age during the same time as Jaune.

This had led to Jeanne saying that perhaps if she hadn't been born then Jaune would of have stayed and continued down his own path while still being happy and close with the family.

Ideas of guilt and self-loathing believing that it was all her fault had hit the girl so hard over that the young teenager had locked herself away in her room where crying could be heard ever since.

The rest of the family had little luck when attempting to speak with Jeanne in these past few days.

Arturia wasn't dissuaded by Mordred's comment saying. "Father is dealing with this in his own way like all of us. You know that he's only trying to stay strong and be the pillar of strength that the rest of family, like mother, can all lean on to get through this."

"Oh, spare me all that bullshit Arturia. It's obvious that 'good old father' just doesn't care."

"If he didn't care then why is he going through all this effort to make sure Jaune comes back home safely?" The buxom Arc argued in her Father's defense trying to show Mordred that the man she hadn't gotten along with in recent years wasn't her enemy. "Despite what you may think, he does care deeply about all of us Mordred including you."

'Even after the problems, you caused him.' Was what she didn't say out loud.

Her younger sister scoffed at that but Arturia didn't let the girl's rudeness stop her. "He even brought and ordered you a whole new set of amours to be delivered after your last one broke in your fight with Jaune. Would he do that if he didn't care for you?"

"I don't need his money-"

"But you still take it anyway with no problem, like always." Arturia didn't allow Mordred to get a word in as she spoke down to her younger sister which only angered the nineteen-year-old. "I don't think you realise what Father has done for you Mordred. If it wasn't for him and the sway that he has earned over his career then you would have been kicked out of Shade over a dozen time before they decide that it was for the best to just offer you an early graduation if It meant they could get rid of you with no problems."

Crimson sparks start to light up around Mordred's clenched fist which only Olivia noticed.

'Stop talking Arturia! You're making her mad and I don't want to be the one stop you two if it comes to blows.' Olivia knew that she was weaker than her younger sisters in terms of fighting power so stopping them would be hard if not impossible.

Arturia kept on speaking. "And let not forget the times he had to bail you out of charges because of you associating with the wrong people over in Vacuo."

Eventually, Mordred let her anger get the better of her.

Aiming a glare at the older girl Mordred spat out with heated venom as red arcs of lighting dance around her frame. "Are you looking for a fight sis? Because you're really starting to piss me off!"

"I'm not looking to fight you at all Mordred but if you're looking to start a fight, I will be the one to finish it." She answered back not at intimidated at the little display.

"Stop it! The both of you!" Olivia ordered her two younger siblings.

She did not want this to end up like the time the two had faced off against each other back in the Vital festival. The fight had been very destructive and had gotten so bad that when it finally ended in Arturia's victory that whole tournament had to be put on hold for a few days to repair the damages done by the sisters that had made the arena unsafe for use.

Both Mordred and Arturia had always had a strange relationship that resembled a rivalry which always had the two of them butting heads. It seemed like Mordred had issues with Arturia in the past about something which sparked a rage within her and now she wanted to surpass her older sister in every way. While with Arturia, no one in the family really knew what she thought of Mordred but she did jabs at her younger sibling speaking often about Mordred's attitude, reputation and demeanor comparing her haughty younger sister to a thug rather than a proud huntress of the Arc family.

Neither of them looked over at Olivia, instead Mordred and Arturia were having a stare off.

Feeling the tense rise in the dead silence Olivia moved to get in between them. "Alright that's enough, we don't need any more falling outs in our family."

Due to the intervention, Mordred reluctantly back off slowly followed by Arturia doing the same.

"You should stay out of this, Olivia." Mordred snapped at her due to her anger clouded mind getting the better of herself. "You haven't been around here ever since you moved out so maybe you're out of the loop or just never truly noticed it. This 'family' of ours hasn't been a family for a long ass time and I'm not just talking about the stuff with Jaune."

Mordred turned her back to the two of them knowing that if she looked at them any longer, she might just lose it and start throwing around lighting induced punches.

"Why don't you just go on over back to Patch and leave us alone Olivia. It's not like you want to stay here any longer, we all know that you want to leave and go back to your own life without all of us in it." Her voice dripped with sarcasm and not so well-hidden malice as she took each step away from them.

Said older sister frowned at Mordred's words that were implying. "Where are you walking off to?"

"Training!" Mordred yelled back as she walked out of the patio door into the back yard. "I can't stand to be around you two right now! I need to blow off some steam and I'm not going to stay inside this house to put up with everyone's self-pity any longer. It's too damn suffocating!"

Olivia made a move to follow her but was halted by Arturia putting a hand her shoulder. "Let her go, Olivia, there's no point in trying to talk to her. Mordred won't listen to anything we have to say while she's like that."

The eldest sister looked conflicted on how to proceed for a good few seconds before conceded and let Mordred walk away.

"I... suppose you're right." She sighed out sadly.

"What's wrong?" Arturia asked.

"It's j-just... what Mordred said about me not knowing what's been going on ever since I left and moved into my own place. H-have I really been that disconnected with everyone and everything going on over here since moving out?" Olivia's face displayed doubt at her younger sisters' words.

She knew that she hadn't spent much time with her family since leaving but thought that she still had a good relationship with everyone. If that wasn't true then why had no one said anything before? It made Olivia want to talk more to her younger sister about things if Mordred was possible the only one blunt and rude enough to say things how they were.

Arturia squeezed her older sister's shoulder in a sign of rare affection from the girl, speaking comfortingly. "You shouldn't let what Mordred says cloud your mind. She's too emotional and quick to anger, willing to say anything that might hurt you in any way when she's like that."

Letting go of Olivia's shoulder the second oldest Arc child said. "Come on, let's go and check on Lily and Lucy to make sure there are ready for when they must go back to combat school soon. It would be best to make sure they aren't too distraught about everything going on before needing to deal with lessons again."

Olivia slowly nodded her head at her sister's word. After all, with how busy their dad was trying to find Jaune with what connections he had and their mother being too emotionally distraught it fell to them as the eldest sisters to help take care of their baby siblings.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Within another part of the large Arc household, Alexander Arc could be found within his personal study. It once belonged to his father once before the great man had met his tragic end many years ago back when Alex had been young and still in Beacon Academy.

"Yes...I understand." Alex held a scroll to his ear speaking to someone on the other end. He looked tired and restless like had been on the device for hours talking no stop.

Not at all like the strong-willed and powerful mask he had been showing at the press conference earlier today.

"Councilman-" Alex sighed out before getting cut off by a muffled voice speaking from the device. The blonde man was trying really hard not smash his scroll on the expensive desk which been in the family for generation as Alex spoke with some high society prick.

"I understand Councilman Peralta that the...great... kingdom of Atlas has more pressing matters to deal with right now but all I am asking for is your assistance in this personal matter my family and I are struggling through-" He was cut off from speaking again as the member of the Atlas council started shouting off about stuff like passing new laws, taxes, Grimm, White fang activity, production of more high-tech Atlas equipment and going on about more troubling news of certain people in the Atlas government getting mysteriously assassinated which had been all over the news.

'I thought this man would be more gratefully to me for saving his life all those times during them VIP escort missions. But no, this asshole doesn't give a shit about anything at all unless it's about money or it's his own fat ass on the line.' Alex cursed to himself as the man on the other end kept ranting on.

It was clear that the old politician wasn't going to assist him in helping to put any effort or resources into finding his son.

Speaking politely. "I see... well thank you for your time Mr councilman but I'm sure your very busy right now so I'll leave to get on with it, good day."

Alex then presses the button abruptly hanging up on the important Atlas politician.

"Fucking useless asshole." He huffed out exhaustively before leaning back in his chair taking an extended look around the office that he resided alone in.

The study was possible the second most secure room in the whole building as the room only open for him to help keep the information within it a secret.

The only other place that was considered even more secure then this room was the Arc family armory hidden within the house known only to the Arcs, which had countermeasures in place to stop anyone who wasn't of Arc descent from getting to it or opening it. The Armoury was where the most prized possessions of the Arc family were held, such as the family sword, weapons used by the previous Arcs from the past and important documents along with old trinkets Alex's ancestors had found.

But now the vault had become a place for Alex to store any magical artifact or object of importance that the Headmaster had handed over to him for safekeeping.

The office or study if you wanted to call it that was the place that the head of the Arc family conducted all his business when he wasn't out following whatever leads Ozpin had sent him.

Speaking of Ozpin, Alex found himself gazing over to the nearby wall where a creaked and dented imprint still remind.

'Why didn't you tell me sooner Ozpin? This whole mess could have been avoided if you had just said something, now everything is in chaos.'

Alexander Arc ended up combing his hand through his blonde locks whilst thinking back to when the headmaster of Beacon had shown up shortly after his son's disappearance to deliver that news which had been stuck in his mind tormenting him ever since.

 _ **Flashback - Three days after finding Jaune missing.**_

"Where is he? Where could of he'd gone?!" Alex shouted out with hot anger that he tried to keep control of before it could become a wildfire of fury that couldn't be stopped.

The frustration was getting to him now in the last few days as worry and fear kept rising the longer, they found no clue of Jaune's whereabouts.

First day of searching both he, Mordred and Arturia had looked over town checking the places one might have expected for Jaune of ran off to in Dragonstail. They went to any stores or locations they knew Jaune might have visited to hide away for a few hours to get away from them but found no sight of the boy.

Then they had taken to go trying the people around the town to see if they could find someone who was friends with Jaune or at the very least someone who was close enough to have an idea of where he was.

That only turned up more upsetting news.

From Alex had found out and heard from his two daughters, later on, was that no one in town was close with Jaune and it seemed like his son didn't even have any friends despite what Jaune had told him and June years ago when his son left the house a lot.

"I guess that's just another lie to add to the pile that Jaune has been feeding us over the years."

How long had his son lies been going on for? What was true and what was made up anymore when it came to Jaune Arc?

Alex didn't know.

Heck, the man wasn't sure if he wanted to know the truth when they would finally get the chance for some answers.

By end of that first day, it was dark when Alex had returned home to give June along with Olivia the bad news that they hadn't found their son.

But it hadn't been just his wife who been waiting for Alex when he had gotten home that day. All of his younger daughters minus Rose had all stayed up waiting for his returning hoping to see him walk through the door with a mixed white blonde headed boy.

And when he didn't and Alex saw their distraught faces at the news, it had him hurt inside.

It made the old blonde feel useless and weak, a feeling he hadn't felt since with what had happened to his father and mother.

Which all felt like a lifetime ago now.

After consoling his family that night Alex had put himself right back into searching the town and the surrounding area the next day hoping to still find his son somewhere. After hours upon hours of rushing around picking apart Dragonstail and speaking to whoever he could to find a single inking of a clue of where Jaune could have gotten to the man had almost given up hope when that came up short.

But upon receiving a lead from a sympathetic civilian who told Alex they believed that they had seen Jaune walking to and from an old looking house a few times out by the outskirts of town had reinvigorated him.

Alex recalls how that little bit of information had set him off in a blinded sprit towards the area to find the house thinking that he had finally uncovered where Jaune had been hiding out and was most likely was with that mysterious teacher of his.

The sun had been setting when Alex had gotten to the old building which looked like it had been well kept after despite the years. The Father Arc had pretty much lost all his rational thought during that moment when he convinced himself that Jaune had to be inside and Alex wasn't going to let anything stop him from getting his son.

Not some random teacher which had come out of nowhere and filled his son's with nonsense and definitely not some locked door blocking him.

After knocking down the door the life had drained away from him when he saw that the house was completely empty with no furniture or people to be found. The interior showed signs of that whoever had stayed in the building had recently packed up everything in a rush and left.

The father of eight had refused to let everything end there though.

Immediately after finding the house abandoned the head of the Arc household had tracked down the supposed landlord that held the deed to the building in an attempted to find anything that could help him. When questioned though the bald-headed man couldn't for the life of him recall any person living in the house lately and said that no one had been paying any rent what so ever to him to live there. It was almost like any memory involving the last occupant of the house was hazy or slipped the man's mind every time the landlord tried to think too much on the subject. That's had definitely been strange but Alex couldn't bring himself to dwell on it too much yesterday as he had been too busy feeling like he been tossed into a pit full of nothing but hopelessness and fear that had threated to consume him.

The only lead Alex had left on Jaune had turned up to be a dead end.

Ceasing the reflecting of the last two days since finding missing from his room Alex said. "I've got no chose...it's been three days now and I've found nothing!"

He started pacing back and forth risking burning a hole in the carpet.

'I'm going to have to get the police involved.'

Alex was reluctant to bring in the police but after three days of finding nothing the father had to accept that his son wasn't in Dragonstail anymore and if he wanted any hope of finding Jaune and getting him back then he was going to need help.

Besides Alex knew that if he didn't get the proper authorities involved now then June would just do it herself behind his back.

He didn't like it and his pride certainly didn't wish to ask for help but it was something that needed to be done, the sooner the better.

Not just for his son safety and wellbeing but for the rest of the family as well.

Knocking from his office door abruptly took the blonde attention away from all that.

'Who could that be?'

It was well known by everyone that Alex did not like to be disturbed when within his personal study.

'Dose Olivia need my help with something?' Surely his oldest child could take care of her younger siblings while Arturia and Mordred took their turn trying to calm down and comfort their mother.

Gods know that the woman was going to need all the help she could get from everyone given how distraught June had been in just two days of her son's disappearance. The veteran hunter really didn't want to see how bad his wife would get the longer Jaune was stayed missing.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Alex." A familiar calm and soft male voice answered.

The voice coming from behind the door certainly was the last thing Alex was expecting to hear today and caused him to pause for a moment before rushing on over to the door to confirm that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.

"O-Ozpin?" Alex said with genuine surprise and confusion in his voice upon opening and seeing the headmaster in his house just standing outside his study.

"Hello, Alex." The man greeted back like his surprise appearance out of the blue wasn't a big deal at all.

"W-What are you doing here? How did you get inside my house?"

"I knocked the front door and your daughter Olivia was kind enough to answer it and let me in when I said I wished to speak with you about that talk you said to do later." Ozpin waved off the questions with his simple statement at the bewildered Arc whose mind was still trying to catch up.

"May I step inside your study so that we can conduct our talk in private?"

Alex didn't answer fast enough before the cane wielder walked right by the Arc and let himself into the study without permission.

Ozpin casually walked around the luxurious looking room observing it with a fine eye as if the man was looking for something that could be hidden about somewhere. Finding nothing the headmaster then gently placed his second favorite coffee mug, that he was now using after his favorite one got destroyed, on the old Arc's desk.

Getting his bearings back an annoyed frown shifted onto the blonde's face at his friend's clear intrusion into his family home. Alex really didn't have time for whatever Ozpin wanted to speak about so trying to be polite as possible the blonde attempted to tell the headmaster to leave.

"Now really isn't a good time for this Oz, I've got my own personal problems going on at the moment here at home. I can't speak about what's going on but I'm dealing with a big mess, so once again I'm sorry but this conversation of yours will have to wai-"

"Does your problems have anything to do with the fact that your son is missing?"

The rest of the words died in Alex's throat once the headmaster cut in with that question.

How did Ozpin know about his son's sudden disappearance?

Alex hadn't even gone public with the news yet and Jaune had only been gone for three days at this point, the only people that knew about the situation fully was the whole Arc family minus poor little Rose of course.

"W-W-What? H-How... did y-you..." The leader of the Arc family was having trouble getting his words out giving show to a rare sight of Alexander stuttering over his words like a fool that had one too many drinks.

Ozpin looked at his friend with a bit of pity and chose to speak in order to help the poor blonde out. "How did I know? Well...given what I saw last time and you saying you and your son don't have a close relationship-" Alex flinched at those words being spoken out due to the current issue going on.

"-and add in the fact that when I walk through your home, I didn't spot Jaune anywhere, I did see Oliver tending to her younger sisters and got a glimpse of June in the kitchen with your other two oldest daughters crying her eyes out to them." The headmaster left out the part where it seemed that the woman may have given him a harsh glare as he passed by before Mordred and Arturia had taken the attention off him.

"But not a single sign of your son anywhere in the house which is interesting given how things were between all of you last time I was here."

Alex was starting to see what Ozpin was implying. 'After seeing all that it wouldn't be hard to put all those pieces together and reach that conclusion which just so happened to be right.' Of course, Ozpin would figure it out the man has always seemed to have a way of finding things out that he shouldn't or stuff that didn't involve him.

"However, I believe the main reason I'm not shocked about Jaune's departure is due something else. Which is..." The grey-haired man voice grew more serious as he lost the stoic look on his face and replaced it with a troubled expression which got Alex's attention immediately.

"Alex, I stumbled across something about your son that concerns us both."

"What? You have something about Jaune" The man wanted to know desperately about anything concerning his boy and the fact that Ozpin was visiting him out of the blue right now started to get Alex's hopes up.

"What is it!? Do you know where Jaune is!? Have you found him or seen him?" The father of eight questioned with an almost desperate plea for his friend to deliver good news and say yes.

Ozpin kept his lips sealed for a while saying nothing as Alex waited for a response.

Finally, the man spoke and with his words shattered the Arc's hopes like glass. "No... I'm sorry Alex but I haven't seen Jaune at all after the party ended so abruptly that day and you asked me to leave."

"Then... what is this all about?! Why are you even here then?!" Alex lashed out feeling like his time was being wasted.

Undeterred from the outburst Ozpin just kept his face emotionless while keeping his eye locked on with Alex's. "Before I say any more and reveal anything, I have to ask are you sure this room is completely secure?"

Again, Alex looked confused but his anger just kept rising as Ozpin seemingly drag out this conversation. "Yes! This room is secure. For crying out loud Oz, this is where I deal with those important meeting we have over the comms when I'm at home so I made sure nothing could leave this room. So just speak damn it and let me go back to finding my son!"

"Very well then I'll tell you what I discovered..." The man quickly picked up his mug off the desk and took a quick sip before putting it back down again. "Alex... your son somehow has come into contact and gained access to some sort magic."

"..."

Out of all the things the veteran huntsman was waiting to hear this certainly wasn't one of them.

"Is this some sort of joke? Are you having me played around with right now!?"

"No Alex I assure you I'm not." Ozpin frowned.

"When Jaune arrived at the party that day I knew there was something wrong with the boy the moment I laid eyes on him. He was giving off a feeling that didn't feel right, which at the time I couldn't put my finger on what was the cause but, during the spar between Mordred and your son I started to pick on something very odd and worrying." Ozpin explained trying to convince Alex that he was speaking the truth.

"It took me a while but I figured out that Jaune's body was giving off traces of magical energy from within his body as he fought with his sister."

"That's impossible!" Alex cut in with a rage-filled voice that bellowed loud but didn't leave passed the walls. "Jaune can't have magic, he's not a maiden and I thought the only other magical users out there were you and...her."

He spoke about the one Ozpin know all too well about while absolutely denying the possibility of the ridiculous idea of his son having magic.

"Those are the only ones that we know are active out there and that we are aware of but sadly Alex there are things that even I do not know but something like this shouldn't shock you too much my friend. After all, let's not forget the many powerful magical artifacts and trinkets that you have help find and brought back to our cause to keep safe and out of the wrong people's hands in the past years. The existents of such objects should tell you, Alex, that it was entirely possible that there may have been others out in Remnant that held the power of magic." Ozpin explained to a reluctant Alex.

"Yes, but not Jaune, not my son! I would have known if my own flesh and blood had been born with magic and had been living with it for sixteen years... Jaune would have come to me about some strange unnatural powers showing themselves and I definitely would have noticed something was wrong!" The blonde was refusing to go along with all this.

"Would you?" Ozpin raised a brow. "You didn't notice that your son had been receiving some sort of training for some years now and given what you've told me Alex in your own words, in fact, you don't have a good relationship with Jaune." The headmaster told his friend with brutal honesty which made the blonde seethe in rage but made Alex listen to what the man he trusted was telling him.

Shaking his head Ozpin continued commenting. "But you are right in the fact that your son was not born with the gift of magic, it seemed that had been given to him by someone else."

"You mean Jaune's mysterious trainer?"

"Yes, I believe those are the ones responsible for Jaune's condition."

Alex bites his lip so hard that it nearly bled at that statement.

"So, I-is it l-like... what you did with Qrow and Raven before I showed up?" Alex asked slowly with hesitation already feeling dread as Ozpin started to slowly convince him on the matter about this whole idea.

"Yes, in a way although the case involving your son is much different and complicated." Alex raised an eyebrow wonder what he meant.

"Now that I've had time go over what I sensed it seems that the boy's unknown magic was possible originating from a foreign object inside his body that he called upon a lot during the fight seemingly unconsciously," Ozpin told the Arc father with a grim expression.

"What kind of object?" The father demanded.

Alex needed to know what was apparently inside Jaune's body. He had seen the things what some of the magical artifacts could do and who known's what sort of changes this thing may have had on his only son.

"I don't know, I suspect a type of powerful magical artifact that whoever Jaune has been in contact with decide to test it out on the boy and insert it into his body before teaching him how to use it." With every word, Ozpin spoke helped fuel the anger, rage and worry deep inside of Alex as those emotions mixed together into a foul concoction.

The idea that someone had been so careless and willing to use his son as some type of human guinea pig to experiment with dangerous and possible harmful magic made the father went immediately hunt down the man that had gotten close to Jaune and skin them alive before turning them inside out.

Who was this person and what did they want with Jaune?

Why take away his only son?

There had to be a motive.

'Who is this man and what is his goal!? 'Alex thought to himself because he knows the stranger wasn't on his and Ozpin's side.

'Could they be a foe? Associated with someone out to hurt me and my family?'

There was only one true enemy that came to his mind that was involved in the secret world of magic and would like to make him suffer.

Gazing at the headmaster the head of the Arc family eye narrowed at the man in front of him.

Ozpin was taken away from mussing when Alex spoke once more. "Oz...do you think that there is a chance that this person that took Jaune away and is molding him is in any way connected with Salem?"

The man had now partly convinced himself that the mysterious person could have been an agent sent by the Queen to get to him by turning his own son against him.

Alex had been one of the thorns in the Queen's side just by working with Ozpin and fighting her in any way he could. If the Queen had tricked Jaune into her forces as she had done with many others before.

If that was the case then Alex would be at a loss.

Would he be able to keep fighting if it meant going against his son?

Ozpin was slow to respond but eventually said. "Maybe...I can't rule out the possibility."

Warning signs were flaring off inside of Alex's head.

A stranger had just randomly shown up out of nowhere and had taken his only son under their wing and happened to have knowledge of magic. The person had obviously had gotten close to his son when Jaune was young, who Alex now knew was clearly alone and didn't have any friends, so it mustn't have been hard for the man to gain the trust of the lonely boy.

It was all too much of a coincidence for Alex that this person claiming to be a huntsman would just take the heir of the Arc family to teach how to fight without informing anyone, then add in the fact that the person had skip town with Jaune the moment Alex had gone looking for them just looked all too suspicious.

A glare soon found itself levelled at the headmaster of Beacon.

"Alex...?"

Ozpin was unable to say anymore before being slammed into the wall behind him.

The force was great that part of the wall gave in from the power dealt from the head of the Arc family.

The headmaster found himself pinned by the enraged blonde.

"You knew all this and didn't tell me sooner Ozpin! Why!? I thought we had a deal, I trusted you!"

All the stress and worry from the last few days mixed with this new paranoia on the situation had the blonde not thinking straight.

"Alex you need to calm down." Ozpin managed to strain out.

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

A tense silence came by for a few moments before Alex kept talking.

"When you came to me all those years ago asking me to join your little order to help fight this secret war of yours. You promised me that my family would be safe from this and not get dragged into it at all in any way!"

"I... have kept my word on that Alex. Do you not remember all the resources I put into Dragontail's defenses to help keep your whole family safe from an attack if Salem chose to strike at you here?"

"Fat load of good that did! If you had just said something to me the moment you realised something was wrong with Jaune, I could of prevent all this pain my family is enduring from ever happing. I would still have my son!"

"I did try."

"What?" Alex blinked.

Ozpin gave a sad smile to the father. "I did try to tell you Alex, remember? After the party when I stayed behind and said I needed to speak to you about something private." He felt the grip on clothes loosen a bit. "Well I had intended to inform you of my findings of Jaune's magic back on that day but you wouldn't listen and sent me away before I could tell you, for the last few days I've been trying to get in contact with you but I had no luck until recently."

"..."

After a brief moment of pause, Alex very slowly let go of the man before stepping away over to his desk. The blonde ran his hand through his hair walking back and forth trying to control his anger until suddenly Alex roared and took his rage out by smacking the mug Ozpin had left on it.

As soon as Alex touch the cup a high-frequency pinging noise sounded off and the coffee mug suddenly shot off in an unnatural accelerated speed before slamming into one of the reinforced walls and denting it.

'There goes my second favorite mug.' Ozpin sighed to himself upon watching Alex use his semblance to destroy the mug.

Picking up his cane Ozpin asked softly. "Are you done? Can we get back to the topic at hand?"

Alex was fearful, he wouldn't claim to be an expert on magic, that title went to Ozpin more than him but past experiences with anything that involved the stuff always spelled trouble in his opinion.

Taking a long sigh. "... Yeah...Oz look I'm sorry I-"

Putting a hand up. "It's fine Alex I understand that you're under a lot of stress right now." The headmaster got his composure back. "Maybe you should take some time off and be with your family."

"No! I... can't. I need to feel like I'm doing something." Alex couldn't look his family in eye right now without feeling a nasty pain deep in his chest.

"Well...Alex, maybe you should let me help and handle this matter with Jaune."

"No." Alex shacked his head. "I can't do that, not while my son is missing, out there with some person who we can't trust. I need to find him and bring him back home. That's my job."

"I can understand your hesitation my friend but I really do believe I will have a better chance of succeeding of finding your son. While I do that, maybe you can perhaps continue on with providing your assistance in finding the maiden." Ozpin asked, they were so close to finding the girl now and getting her safe.

"I won't do anything until I've found my son and that's final. So how do you plan on helping me find him?"

"...simple I've gotten in touch with Qrow to lend a hand in tracking them down."

…

…

"You want me to put my faith in that drunk!?" Alex shouted. "The man will most likely just spend his time drinking at taverns and flirting with barmaids instead of finding Jaune."

"Alex, the both of us know that Qrow is one of the best trackers out there. I assure you that he will do a much better job than you when it comes to finding people who don't wish to be found," said Ozpin.

"Well, I still don't like it! It's not enough Ozpin and if you still want my support in this whole war your fighting then I want you to pull ever string you got into helping me get the authorities in the kingdoms to lend a hand when I announce Jaune's disappearance." Alex demanded not willing to back down.

The grey-haired man frowned at the demand.

It wouldn't be easy to bring in the kingdoms to help in one missing person case especially since most the headmaster's pull was now only in Vale. Ozpin would prefer not getting the authorities involved when concerning a matter such as this which involved things in the world that he was trying to keep hidden from the masses for their own safety.

Eventually, Ozpin relented.

He couldn't risk losing Alex's support. "Very well...I will do what I can."

Alex nodded back pleased to hear it before remembering to ask something that been bugging him.

"Ozpin..." Alex randomly spoke up looking on with an emotionless face. "Is it... is it possible for magic to mess with a person's head? Such as making someone forget stuff ever happened or could even manipulate their minds to make someone do something they wouldn't normally do."

The headmaster blinked at the seemingly random question but reasoned that it was asked for a purpose. "Well...while I don't personally know how to perform such magic myself, I am certain that it is possible. Magic is a powerful force of the supernatural which can be used to over right the laws of nature itself. So, in theory, there is nothing that it can't do." Ozpin stared intensely at the Arc. "Although I assume you bring this up for a reason."

Alex then mentions the landlord of the house having no recollection of a person living the building for the past couple of years.

"So, our mysterious man may have some sort of ability to interfere or influence with people's minds...interesting and very worrying," Ozpin muttered filing away the information with everything he had so far.

For Alex, the information about such magic wasn't fascinating to him but terrifying. What if this stranger had used his magic to mess with his son's head and turn Jaune against his family?

'Jaune I will find you and get you back home, I give my word to it.' The head of the Arc family was going to do everything he could in find his son.

 **End of Flashback**

* * *

 _Back to the present time - Misaki town's train station._

The rest of the journey flew by for Jaune and Shirou as after a few uneventful hours the train slowed down to halt at Misaki town train station.

"Here it is, we finally made it." Shirou steps onto the platform and looked around before gesturing for Jaune to follow him. "Come on I'll take you to my place and we can start having that talk I promised."

They had finally arrived, after weeks of traveling by foot back from Dragonstail to Cleonae and then having to change their whole plans and take a long journey across Anima by train both Shirou and Jaune had made to the place where Jaune's mentor kept his other home.

'Or is it a hideout? I'm not sure.' Jaune wondered.

Walking in step with his teacher the first thing Jaune noticed upon walking down the streets of the town was how different it was to Dragonstail. Misaki looked to be maybe the double the size of Dragonstail and that was saying something considering how large his hometown was since the place could become its own city in a few generations if it kept building and expanding. Misaki was built surrounded by mountains acting as a natural wall to block out many attacks from the ground. The streets were lively as they passed the shopping district with people out doing their daily shopping and Jaune saw children playing in a nearby park.

A few people took notice of them and waved at the new visitors.

Allowing a small smile to show from the nice peaceful atmosphere Jaune found it all to be very relaxing after the last few weeks.

Seeing this Shirou allowed himself to smile. "See? I told you that this a nice and quiet place."

It was probably one of the few places in Mistral Shirou could truly enjoy thanks to the whole area being filled with crime somewhere or other. Despite the issues plaguing the area, Shirou found himself likening Mistral the most out all the Kingdoms due to the fact that it was the only one that had a lot of cultures that resembled his homeland. That might have been why he had picked to set up a base of operation here due to the fact the similarities it shared with Eastern Asia.

Moving on to the northern edge of town with the sun now coming down the red archer pointed his finger and said. "Here we are this my place."

Jaune lost his footing for a moment as he looked at the size Shirou's place. It was a large building that could rival his family home with a tall wall surrounding the property, the place looked more a compound then a simple house.

'Where did he get the cash for this?'

Shirou wanted to chuckle at the face his student was making, he shouldn't be shocked that Jaune was stumped upon looking at the home he had made. Shirou had pretty much had the whole Emyia residence remade here in Misaki town to look how had it been back in his childhood. It even had a large back yard and the storehouse built on it but the interior within the building had been changed up. The cost had been a bit pricey but due all Grimm and bandits he had gotten rid of over the years some of the settlements had been kind enough to offer compensation.

Shirou wasn't going to turn away the money, especial when that cash was going to be used for Hunter or mercenary to take of the problems that he had solved in the first place.

"Alright let's go inside." Shirou stepped onto the property no problem but when Jaune followed he felt an odd sensation.

Like he had just stepped through an invisible barrier.

Ignoring it Jaune caught up with Shirou who opened up the front door.

Both walking in the first thing Jaune saw when inside the house was a bunch of cardboard boxes all piled up that he had seen Shirou packing up back in Dragonstail.

"Ah good, my other stuff made it here without issue I see." He heard the man say as he took off his red jacket and hung it up.

Jaune just stood there in the middle of the living room not knowing what to do.

"You can relax now kid no one is going to be finding you while you're within these grounds."

The blonde didn't know how Shirou could be so confident in that but replied. "About time! These things were starting to get uncomfortable." Without another word, Jaune immediately removed the red contact lenses that been irritating his eyes allowing his natural blue to seen again.

"That's much better." He sighed out in relief.

"Glad to hear it."

…

…

"Sooooooo...do you want me to start explaining everything now or later after something to drink and rest while I unpack all these boxes."

"NOW." Jaune responded immediately.

"I've had enough of waiting around and all the other bullshit." Jaune glared at the man and then said with hot fire in his voice. "So, start talking."

Shirou didn't look at all fazed by the heated look coming from the kid's blue eyes. "Alright then..."

The man walked over to a nice-looking couch which looked like it had never been used.

Sitting down Shirou took a deep breath before leaning forward putting his elbows on his knees and interlock his finger together. "I gauss I should start off by saying I'm not a Huntsman like you thought I was..."

His eyes didn't look up to meet the blonde. "I should have said this a long time ago and got it out the way, you see Jaune..."

Jaune didn't say anything back as he waited for the man to continue on, his heart rate increase in anticipation and anxiety at what would come next.

"...I'm a mage."

"...Huh?"

* * *

 _*Elsewhere*_

Crimson eyes stared blankly at the tavern sign.

"Of all the place to pick I should have known that he would choose some local drinking hole for this meeting," Raven muttered before striding through the tavern doors confidently.

She got a few looks the moment she stepped through.

A few drunks even had the gall to leer at her but one quick glare from her blood red eyes soon scared off any of the onlookers taking notice of her. It made Raven want to scoff at how weak the people here must be if all it took was a simple mean look from her to get them to back off.

'I swear it's like each and every year the people around me and my clan are getting weaker and weaker. People closer to the kingdoms are getting more comfortable in there safely making them lazy and frail.' When the time came and the Queen made her first big move, whenever that time may be, Raven knew the death toll would be massive if this was how weak people had gotten.

'At least when that time does come the weakest of us will be weeded out and killed initially leaving only the rest of us, the strongest, to rise up and carry on the fight.' Raven told herself as walk deeper into the inn scanning about the place for who she was looking for.

The place was crowded but she soon found him.

Her brother.

Someone she hadn't seen in person, officially, in a long time.

Possessing black hair similar to her own as well as the same crimson colored eyes, her brother was sitting on by himself not looking up at anyone in the corner.

He was expecting her.

Coming up on the table stopping only as her shadow cast over him like an eclipse.

The man looked up at her from his seat with a grim expression like her mere presence was far too unbearable to stand as he held a drink in his hand.

"Raven."

He reeked of booze, so bad that the fumes made her nose scrunch up in displeasure of the odor. It was exactly the same as she remembered him, her brother hadn't changed at all in these last few years.

Still, an alcoholic mess she couldn't bear to look at.

"Qrow." She replied in a cold voice that mirrored his perfectly.

Both pairs of crimsons eyes stared off at each other making people around take notice of the rising tension between the two and they all slowly edged away leaving them alone in the corner of the tavern.

"We need to talk."

"Oh, do we? And here I thought you wished to catch up with each other." Raven pulled up a chair across from him and sat down. "After all, family get togethers are rare for us."

"You have to be family for this to be a reunion." He dryly responded. "So, how 'bout we get straight to it and then the two of us can go back to never seeing each other."

"..."

"..."

An uncomfortable silence surrounded the pair well the other folks in the bar continued on with their own drunken antics.

The silence was only soon broken when a brave young waitress came over to the Branwen's table.

"C-Can I...um err get you two anything?" The girl nervously asked feeling the unwelcoming atmosphere around the man and woman.

Qrow answered first and Raven saw him attempting to put on a charming smile.

'Oh no he's not going to-'

"I would like whiskey on ice," He then winked. "And maybe your name later on as well."

"...errrrrrrr." The poor girl wasn't sure how to respond to that but thankfully Raven chose to chime in.

"Ignore this idiot." The girl looked over at her, almost thankfully for the interruption. "And get me a scotch." Raven finished off with a mean glare that scared the girl off to get them their drinks.

'If I'm dealing with Qrow I'm going to need at least one drink to get me through this.'

Speaking of the man, the drunk let out a long sigh at his sister's cockblocking before giving her a pointed look. "I can see you haven't changed, you're still a bitch that likes to ruin my fun."

Glaring she whispered. "And I see your still Ozpin's little errand boy and attack dog who's also a sad drunk."

Qrow whispering back. "Drinking is still a better vice then killing as you and your band of murderers and thieves do."

"They are our family and must I remind you Qrow that you too were one of those murderers and thieves that you speak so ill of." Raven made him recall that he too had been one of them in the past and did many things that people in the kingdoms would look down upon in order to survive.

"They. Are. Not. My. Family." Qrow announced with absolute denial.

Raven rolled her eyes at her brother's rejection of his past action in the tribe. He could try to deny and forget it but you couldn't erase the past.

"Whatever, so what do you want?" She asked as the waitress came back with their drinks and put them down on the table before scurrying away.

Qrow watched the young waitress walk away, his eyes lingering on the mini skirt she wore before looking back at his twin. "Why were you stalking Alex's brat and what do you know about the man in red that's traveling with him?"

He asked getting right to the point.

"Why is it so important to you and what makes you assume I know anything?"

"...Oz put me on this mission saying that Alex's brat had done a runner with someone that needed looking into immediately in case there a threat...or something as such." He took a swig from his drink. "Considering what you and I both saw from him in Cleonae it's safe to say that fear is warranted."

Scoffing Raven said. "Of course, that old man would be so paranoid about this. He hates it when things don't go how he foresees them and that man showing up out of the blue like he did and taking the young Arc with him must have really caused a mess of things given what I've heard from the news."

"This isn't funny Raven."

"No, what's funny to me Qrow is that you're still working with that old fool." She frowned. "I'm telling you now brother if things keep carry on under Ozpin's watch then we are fucked, Beacon will fall and so will Vale. When SHE comes, Ozpin will fail and you will see that I was right all along brother."

"Ozpin won't fail us."

"...We'll see about that."

…

…

...

Gripping his glass tightly. "We're getting side-tracked so tell me what do you know?"

"Nothing more than you do, I'm afraid dear brother."

"Bullshit! I know you were keeping an eye on them before I showed up."

"Yes," She admitted. "But during that time, I have been unable to find out much at all about our mysterious man in red. You must have had the same problem while stalking them Qrow, the man knew that we were watching him the whole time." Raven smirked at Qrow's face.

"You got to be kidding me?"

Raven only gave him a dull look.

"No, I am not... truly the man is a dangerous one" A pleasant smile overtook her face when she said that.

"Shit..." Qrow rubbed his brow. "Do you know where they might have gone or any idea where they might be heading next?" He asked.

Soon after Cleonae, the pair had gotten much harder to track down.

Seemed like the white-haired fellow had started covering his steps now for some reason.

"No, sadly I don't." She lied. "So, are we done now?"

Looking annoyed Qrow answered. "Not by a long shot, how did you first run into those two? Do you have anything useful on the kid as well? I need to give Alex some good news next time, I see him."

Quirking a brow. "I didn't think you cared that much for Alex?"

Raven swore she could recall hearing the two not getting along that much. Heck, they had even ended up fighting one another once due to one of Qrow's many drunken incidences with her twin stealing the victory making him one of the few people able to say they beat Alexader Arc and his supposedly once thought absolute defense.

"I don't, the guy's got a stick up his ass almost as bad as Ironwood's but the blonde's making Oz have me do all this." Thanks to Ozpin and Alex, Qrow had ended up getting dragged off early from his time off he was spending with his nieces.

"Why should I tell you?" Raven asked.

"Because you still owe me for that time in Apetus where I saved your ass-"

"I think you will find I was the one who SAVED your ass and I don't own you anything, dear brother."

Another stare off happened once again.

Sighing, running her finger on the edge of her glass. "Fine... if you must know I was investigating who had been taking out the other bandit groups in the wilds of Sanus just over a month ago. I had been on my way to the camp in my 'other form' thinking that maybe a rogue huntsman or bounty hunter may have been responsible."

Qrow leaned in to better hear his sister's story that might help give some useful info back to Ozpin.

"But image my surprise when a few cowardly Bandits were running away from their camp that was under attack got ambushed by a young white-blonde haired teenager. I then watched the boy slay the three bandits in a matter of seconds without nearly any hesitation." Raven smirked reliving the memory.

Qrow's eyes widened as he stared at his sister to see if she was lying.

She wasn't.

"What's wrong Qrow?"

"What's wrong?" He repeated looking mad at her. "The kid-"

"Jaune, his name is Jaune."

"Whatever, Jaune then, is sixteen years old the same age as your daughter that you abandoned and you're telling me that the kid has already gotten blood on his hands." Qrow couldn't image Yang ever having to go through something like taking a life or gods forbid Ruby who was only two years younger than Alex's son.

'Oh fuck, Alex! He isn't going to like this news when he hears about this.'

"Why are you acting so shocked Qrow?" Raven questioned. "So, what if he's sixteen, you and I both had taken a life much early then that when growing up." In her mind, it was something that everyone should learn early on to help make the person stronger.

Clearly, her brother's time living in the kingdoms surrounded by the likes of Tai and Ozpin had made him soft and very weak-willed.

"We didn't grow up normally Raven your just too skewed up in the head to realise it thanks to those murderers in the tribe. A kid at sixteen years of age shouldn't be just taking the lives of others like it's nothing, that ain't right even I know that now." It wasn't the killing itself that got to Qrow, after all he had taken quite a few in his life and still did to this day when he had no other option.

Maybe it was the fact that hearing this reminded the man of how he had been growing up back in the tribe not feeling much when he killed and didn't realise how much of his innocence and mindset had been ruined and messed up until much later.

"What happened after that?"

A bloodthirsty smirk showed itself. "The boy piqued my interest."

That was all Raven gave him.

After a minute the man's eyes slowly widened. "You didn't?"

"I wanted to test him out, and I must say that the boy was truly impressive for his age to hold up against me." An arrogant looked come over Raven and as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But in the end, I managed to prove myself to be superior when my blade cut into his chest."

"You tried to kill the kid?" Qrow wasn't sure which point to focus on.

The fact that his sister had nearly killed the boy or that Raven had said that the kid had somehow managed to hold up against her for a while.

"Oh, who I am I kidding it's you, of course, you had no qualms in almost murdering a kid."

"The strong live and the weak die." She repeated the words that she lived by. "Besides I was never aiming to kill Jaune I just wanted to test him... and maybe bring back to the tribe."

"To turn him into one of your murderers and thieves?" He accused before joking saying. "...Or maybe you wanted a young boytoy for yourself."

Ignoring his stupid joke altogether she fired back.

"He's already killed people Qrow so by your logic he's part way there to becoming one of us."

"No, he isn't." He denied her. "And once Alex finds out about what you've done to his son, he's going to hunt you and the tribe down to make you pay."

Rolling her eyes at the threat. "I'm not at all scared of Alexander Arc. If he wants to hunt me down then let him but right now the man is too busy stuck with finding his son and dealing with the shit storm that the press is throwing at him. Besides I already have a way to beat his semblance if he shows up."

Qrow wasn't sure how that was possible. "You know what it is?"

From little, he understood about Alex's semblance it had the potential to make the man near untouchable if Alex could just only master the complex mumbo jumbo calculation crap that went over Qrow's head.

The head of the Arc family wasn't a pushover.

Back when he and Alex had fought, the blonde had been the slightly better swordsman but Qrow had ended up being the better fighter with his scythe. The main deciding factor of that fight though had come down to Qrow's semblance messing up Alex's one for him to win the battle.

"Yes, I've even come up with a way to bypass his semblance." She lied while boasting, Raven actually possibly had two but wasn't going to tell him that.

"How did you even find out what it was?"

"Because I'm always watching."

A cold chill went down Qrow's spine bringing back an old memory.

'" **You three fools can never hide anything from me. I'm always watching.'"**

Those words were maybe his sisters second favourite to use, under the whole strong survive line. Worst part was she was right, Qrow recalled when he, Tai and Summer had thought Raven was kidding when she said those words to them back in their Beacon days. Only for his sister to reveal every small detail of what they did in their spear time and what they did when thought they were alone.

That was the day when team STRQ found out that privacy meant nothing to Raven, especially when it came to others.

"We shouldn't be fighting each other Raven." Looking bothered about something Qrow took another swig to wet his suddenly dry throat.

"You... should come back. More and more of those different and strange Grimm are showing up in the wilds and Grimmlands. We could use you." He drank again. "The only way for us to beat her is by working together."

"You mean Ozpin could use me? Sorry Qrow but I have no desire of being that man's pawn again. Maybe YOU should come back to the tribe. Where you belong, with your family."

"You know that ain't going to happen...I have a new family. The one you left for the tribe."

Tense silence seeps in, Raven didn't speak and Qrow was thinking on the lack of information on the man in red and the news about Alex's son he had gotten in this talk.

"If you have nothing else to say to me then we are done here." Grabbing her drink, she downed the whole thing in one go before getting up.

"This has been a fun get to together Qrow, I hope that we don't have another one for years. I'll be going back to our family, the one which will be waiting for you to return one day when Ozpin lets you down and when that day comes, we'll welcome you with open arms brother." Raven turn away but before she could take a step.

"You know Yang has started searching for you? She's been going to shady places and asking if anyone has any information on where to find you."

Still facing away. "I'm well aware of that."

"She's also going to be graduating signal in a year, at top of her class when it comes to fighting and is looking to head to Beacon."

…

…

...

"I know all this, you know that I know all of this. Why are you bringing it up?"

"Thought that you should be reminded before going about the daughter you abandoned for that tribe you call a family."

Peering over her shoulder Raven lock eyes with a pair that match her own before making a scoffing of disgust. "If Yang wants to find me then I won't stop her from trying."

With that said and done Raven walked out of the tavern.

Now alone Qrow leaned back into his chair. "Well that could have gone better but at least no swords were drawn, so it went better than last time."

Thinking about what came next Qrow really wasn't looking forward to speaking to Ozpin or Alex of his findings when he got back to report in.

He was going to need something to deal with this.

"Hey, waitress! Can I get another drink...and make this one a double!"

* * *

 _Emyia residence - Misaki town..._

"So... let me get this straight..." Jaune tried to compose himself as he looked at the man sitting down but was failing. "... magic is actually real, you, are a mage and all those kid stories I heard growing up were true all along."

"Yes, Yes and technically those stories have been mixed up, changed and fabricated over the years to become something completely different from the truth in most cases."

"Y-You are also saying that I can do magic thanks to that class card you infused inside me?"

"Yes."

"You got be kidding me right now."

"I'm not."

The blonde wasn't sure how to react to all the information that Shirou had dropped on him. The whole idea of the existence of magic and how it was hidden from the general world. Then even more crazy stuff was said by his teacher like how he could do magic as well somehow!

When Shirou had started to explain more about magic, going into the details the boy almost assumed that the man was making stuff up as he went along.

If wasn't for the thought of why his friend would go through so much effort to make up an elaborate lie.

A part of him thought that his mentor might be messing with him but that didn't really add up with the man being the most serious Jaune had ever seen him be.

"Okayyyy..." Jaune dragged looking uncomfortable.

This wasn't what he had been expecting to be told when the man he knew for years said he would reveal things.

"You're taking this much better than I expected." Shirou had to admit.

"To be honest, I'm half expecting you to say that this is all a joke and to start laughing at me for even considering what you're saying is true. Besides It's better than freaking out for now and plus with all the strange shit that's been going on."

Jaune shrugged his shoulders.

"So, screw it I'll entertain the idea of magic being real, for the moment at least."

To be more honest with himself Jaune found most of the stuff the man spoke of concerning magic to be very confusing and complex for him to get a grasp of upon hearing it for the first time. Words like the Root, magecraft, mana, Od and a bunch of other stuff that got thrown around which had all made Jaune's head spin.

And that had just been on the subject of magic with his friends apparently giving a 'short' explanation on it. It sure hadn't felt short for Jaune as this conversation had been going on for a long while now with it going dark outside.

"You're sceptical?" Shirou asked.

"What do you expect?" Jaune throws his arms up. "You always told me when I was young how those childish fairy tales of hero and magic weren't true and that I shouldn't believe everything people tell me. So, guess what? Some of your cynicism finally rub off on me, I mean how I can be sure this for real."

"Everything I said is true," Shirou confirmed again to make his point at the uncertain teenager.

"Then why keep this all this a secret for me in the first place? I could have handled it!" Jaune needed to know.

"When I first met you Jaune you were only twelve years of age and we were practically strangers back then. Tell me do you think it would have been wise for me to reveal all this to you back then? What would you have done with this information?" Shirou questioned waiting for his answer.

"I...I-I dunno! Freak out, think that you were a crazy druggie in an alleyway and run." How was Jaune meant to know what action he would have taken back than four years ago?

He had been a young and impressionable kid who had been hiding away his sadness, anger and insecurities behind a fake smile at that point in time.

"Exactly and that would have been very stupid of me and caused problems if your young self-had gone blabbing about that to the wrong people." Shirou reasoned. "And considering now I know how close your family is with Ozpin I would say I made the right chose."

"What's the headmaster got to do with this?"

The older man let out an annoyed groan at where the conversation had steered. "That's a more personal matter for me to deal with but in short you can say that he too is no stranger to the world of magic. In fact, I'm certain that he or someone else might be on to me and by extension you, given what's been happing in the last few weeks." Seeing Jaune's confusion Shirou further explained himself.

"One the reasons why I was being very secretive and closed off for most of this past few weeks while traveling is because ever since we left Dragonstail we were being followed."

"What!?" The Arc panicked thinking that his location might be compromised for him to found and sent back home.

"Calm down! We're no longer being followed, after Cleonae I started deliberately covering our tracks to lose them and now that we are in the boundary of this estate nothing can get close to us without me knowing."

"Who was following us?"

Shirou took a second to answer. "...I don't know who they are other than that there were two individuals stalking us and that they tried to sneak in close but I kept them at a distance every time they tried so let's leave that topic for now and move on."

Jaune just shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. 'Magic, Soul Eating monster and now people were following us. This is all becoming too much. Whatever happened to my simple life before I met Shirou?'

"Why lie about the Huntsman thing then?" Asking a question, one of many, which had been bugging him.

"Ah..." Shirou shook his head back and raised a finger. "I never once said that I was a Huntsman kid that was something your younger self came up with and convinced yourself of being true. I never lied there I just never corrected you, there is a difference between lying and just not saying something, Jaune."

"That doesn't make it better." Jaune snapped.

"You feel upset," Shirou stated the obvious fact seeing the kid trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Of course, I'm upset! We've known each other for years and I now find out that you've been lying to me for most of it." Jaune let out and kept going. "I feel upset like you don't trust me, I feel hurt, I feel betrayed and I feel-"

"Like kind of how your family must have felt when they found out you were keeping secrets and were lying to them?" Shirou cut in shutting down the kid's rant.

"..."

"..."

"Th-That's different..." Jaune tried to argue.

"Is it? Your family was upset that you kept secrets from them but you justified it by saying it was for the best. They must have felt hurt like you are experiencing right now when they found out and like them, you're getting upset and mad taking it out at the person who was keeping things from you."

"..."

"But because the situation is suddenly reversed means that you must be in the right but like you Jaune I had my reason for doing what I did." Shirou started making Jaune back down, the blonde feeling small all of a sudden.

"..."

"Were they the best reasons? No, probably not but I made my choices and I can't go back and change them. All I can do is move on and try to make the best of what's happened. I didn't keep all this from you out of malice or a lack of trust but because, like you with your family, at the time I thought it was for the best course of action." Shirou finished allowing his words to hit Jaune with all there might.

"…"

For a good minute or two, the young run-away Arc didn't say or do anything.

Letting go of the brief moment of rage Jaune conceded to Shirou.

"I'm just upset that it took you so long to tell me something this big, old man." The apparent existence of magic was big deal after all. It hurt that his friend hadn't believed he could be trusted with such information.

Walking over to the furniture opposite Shirou, Jaune dropped himself into the seat already looking exhausted with this talk which had been going on for a while now with as he could tell by how dark it had gotten. "Alright then next is umm...what was the deal with what went down in Cleonae."

"That was me confirming a suspicion."

"Which was?"

"What you saw with the Soul Eater was one small example of the type of things I've been dealing with ever since I started out on these missions," Shirou answered with the truth.

"You said that thing cursed me and was consuming people's souls. Now you say there are more of those things out there like that?"

Shirou nodded his head. "That's right, more and more of those strange creatures have been popping up in the wilds resembling the Grimm but are much more different and deadlier than anything you would see in the typical Grimm horde. I think that someone or something has been dealing in the nastier side of magecraft to create them but I haven't found the source yet.

The counter guardian needed to find where these new creatures were coming from and fast before they ended up multiplying and over running the entire four continents. This was a serious matter and Shirou hoped to solve it eventually before things could get even worse for the remnants of mankind.

"Wonderful," Jaune muttered. "I have just been told magic is apparently real and I'm already starting to dislike it if it can help make an abomination like the one back in Cleonae."

"It's not all bad," Shirou told him not wanting the kid to become all depressed and miserable again like at the start of their trip.

"Was that everything you want to talk about? I have more I can say and show you but, for now, I think it would be best if I let you rest and take this all in first." After all, Shirou did realise he had dropped a pretty big bombshell on the poor kid.

Plus, they were both tired and could use some rest. Shirou knew that he and Jaune weren't going to be leaving this house for while anyway so there was plenty more time for him to explain everything in more detail to his student.

'To get the kid somewhat ready if we ended up going down that plan of action in the next couple of days before I got to go.' The counter guardian reasoned with himself inside his head.

The idea of a nice shower and a proper bed were very enticing to the young blonde but Jaune still had one question that wanted to get answered before going anyway.

"One more question left for today, the class card thing." upon mentioning it Jaune saw Shirou tense up ever so slightly. "That's how I can apparently do this 'magic' thing of yours now, right?"

The man slowly nodded back to the young Arc.

Shirou was keeping his promise when he said that would come clean and tell Jaune everything, well almost everything. The man was pretty sure most the terminology he had spoken of had just flown over the kid's head.

"I thought you were only making a shity joke and was mocking me when you said that thing was magic all those years ago," Jaune muttered to himself but Shirou picks it up easily.

Looking at his hand's blue sparks light up Jaune's hands and soon a simple dagger was traced and held in his right palm.

"That card has something to do with those wired images and visions I've been seeing," Jaune stated without any doubt in his mind of what was responsible.

Fidgeting with the blade in his hand as he talks, Jaune asked. "Why is that happing? Is something wrong with me? What type of effect is this magical object doing to me?" The blonde began to twirl the dagger between his fingers, messing around and keeping his hands busy to help him feel a bit better and distracted.

"I'm not too sure," Shirou answered honestly.

The twirling stopped and Jaune listened to the man's words extra closely.

The white-haired man kept talking saying. "I think that those visions you're seeing is my ability to gain the knowledge and history of a weapon just by glancing at it."

"Wait you can do that?" A shocked Jaune asked, dispelling the dagger. "Why has it started now and why I am only now learning about this?"

That ability sounded like it had its uses but more importantly, it gave the young Arc a possible explanation to whatever he saw when he traced the headmaster's cane and the scythe Shirou had temporarily had gave him.

A guilty look showed itself on Shirou. "I believe this is happing now because of you unlocking more of the potential that the card had locked away to stop it from killing you from overloading your twelve-year-old body and mind back then with everything."

Jaune's eyes widened at the mention of that he could have died back on the day of the installation of the card into his body.

"...That thing could have killed me?" Jaune spoke softly. "...I could have died that day and now you're telling that you don't know fully know what that magical thing you embedded into my body has affected me or how it will affect me in the future and can only guess at best."

It actually hurt the Arc a little inside hearing that the man he looked up to had seemingly been so careless when it had come to his life all years back on their first weeks of meeting each other.

Shirou said nothing in his defense nor tried to counter the boy's words.

"I-I can't-I errr...I" Jaune stuttered and hesitated until he let out the biggest and longest sigh today "I need some time to think, all this is too much to take in over such a short period of time."

Standing up, Jaune attempting to hide his unease and addressed Shirou. "I'm not saying that I believe all this but thank you anyway for answering some of my questions like you said you would. Now can you tell where my room is so that I can sleep?"

The older man nodded his head in understanding and gave Jaune directions to his room that would be sleeping in while staying here.

Once closing the sliding door behind him the runaway Arc observed his accommodations. The room was very plain with a simple bed against the wall and clear unused desk on the opposite side of the room. The place was devoid of any character that his old room had back at home and Jaune actually felt himself missing it when faced with the cold and unlived in space.

Dropping his bag on the ground without a care Jaune collapsed down onto the bed.

The soft sheets felt absolutely therapeutic on his tired and aching body. Weeks of none stop camping had made the Arc longing for the sweet loving comfort that only a true bed could provide.

Staring up blankly at the ceiling he began going over Shirou had shared and revealed in his head.

'Magic huh? This so crazy and ridiculous but...I guess I did give up normality the day I let Shirou take me under his wing.

Over and over again the new information and revelations ruled over his thoughts like an evil tyrant with an iron fist. It was unknown to the blonde how long he laid there just thinking on the previous conversation but eventually, Jaune's eyes began to feel heavy.

Drowsiness and the comfy bed were getting to him.

"What a right mess this is all turning out to be." He muttered with drowsiness seeping into his voice.

Jaune fought back as long as he could but very soon his eyes closed and the Arc fell asleep into a nice undisturbed slumber.

* * *

 **End**

 **Well it's done.**

 **Hope it was at least somewhat decent, if not... oh well.**

 **If lucky I'll be able to find it somewhere what little free time, I find myself with to get started on the next chapter. Although given how slow and bad I am at writing that could take a long ass time knowing me.**

 **Also, thanks to the people giving advice on what to do with story concerning with either doing my own thing or trying to change what I had planned to accommodate for the canon which added new stuff. I definitely believe I'll be changing stuff going by what I already have planned for when this story hit's the first event in RWBY storyline that I have invisioned.**

 **To FGO players, I know it's late but hope those of you rolling for Merlin (Cock wizard) got him. Took me a while but got him NP2 somehow. If not, hope you had good luck with your other rolls. My luck was somewhat good at the start of this year with Merlin and Gramps but hit troubles going for Edmond dantes with him sucking up tons of my quartz just get the first copy of him. I also like using Emyia alter or as some call him Detroit Emyia despite the censoring he got to his design in NA, good civ.**

 **Now I better start playing Fate/Extella link and get some sleep so until next time.**

 **Whenever that may be.**

* * *

 **Small Preview bits of what's to come: (Note: this may change, be moved to another chapter or be cut entirely. Also will mostly like have spelling or grammar mistakes in them still. )**

"Teach me."

...

...

"What?"

* * *

Shirou saw that the blonde had been drawing some type of designs onto a peace of paper.

Snatching it quickly he asked.

"What's this?"

"Don't touch that!"

Upon closer inspections at the horrible artistry skills the boy possessed, Shirou finally realised that Jaune had been sketching some type of blueprint layout for a pair of weapons which looked strangely familiar to his favourite twin swords.

Only there was a major difference.

'Are those Kanshou and Bakuya as...guns?'

* * *

"Wow..."

Jaune walked around the workshop in wonder, at awe gazing upon the contents within the magical research station.

* * *

"I got a bad feeling about this." Jaune confessed looking at the circle traced into the ground with great trepidation.

"There no need to worry."

Shirou reassured him with absolute assurance that everything will be fine and work out.

"...As longs you don't screw it all up."

* * *

Bone while eyelids slowly open, revealing a pair of menacing scarlet red orbs with void black sclera surrounded them.

"Hmmmm," A soft rumble escaped her throat as she sensed it. "Now this interesting..."

It had been very long time since she had ever felt this type of disturbance and magical power being practiced before.

She knew immediately what was occurring. A type of magic which she had thought was lost to all but her through the flow of time.

A ritual was taking place.

Someone was attempting a summing from the Throne of Heroes.


End file.
